Survivors
by Ellen92
Summary: I am a survivor. 'A lucky one', as they often said. But if he hadn't been a survivor, neither would I have been. He saved my life in more ways than I could ever explain. AH. E/B
1. Prologue

**A/N: Hi there! Here I am with my new story – finally! It took me so long because school was kicking my ass. But now I'm on summer holiday, so I finally have time to put some ideas onto paper (and fanfiction)! :) I hope you'll enjoy this little idea!**

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**Beta: momma2fan She's the best and puts up with me. She deserves an award for this.**

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**Prologue**

_Bella_

The ground was humid, as was my body. Covered in sweat and grime, I forced myself to stay upright, to keep going even though every step seemed to take the last bit of my energy. Every limb felt heavy from the exertion.

It had been days...days of wandering, hoping for a sign of life or anything that wasn't green or mossy. Every day, a little more hope was lost and today I felt like my little jar of hope was nearly empty, like there would never be an end to this nightmare.

Feeling the heaviness of the situation fall on me once again, I collapsed onto the muddy floor, right as a tear hit the brown slush as well.

The sound of footsteps in front of me halted immediately, and I could feel the worried stare travel all over my body. I could hear him turn around and crouch in front of me, his hand quickly helping me upright again. "We'll be fine," he whispered for what seemed like the millionth time, but his once comforting words didn't have the same effect anymore. They sounded like an empty promise, a reason to keep afloat while I was sure I was going to drown. I felt empty, tired and spent. I felt—dead. And maybe I should have been. Maybe I should have died alongside all of the other people who weren't as lucky as I had been—as we had been. But then again, their suffering had been short while I was still struggling. Maybe _they_ had been the lucky ones…

"We can't give up now, Bella," his soft voice pleaded once more, but it was all in vain. I had already given up.

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**A/N: Tadam. That's it. **

**Please leave me your thoughts and comments in a review. I'd like to know if you guys thinks it's worth continuing writing it ;) **

**I plan to update next week, if you feel like getting an update :)**

**Love, Ellen **


	2. Chapter 1: Emergency

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. (I wish!)**

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**Special thanks to everyone who took the time to write me a review! You're awesome!  
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**1.** **Emergency**

_Bella_

"_Last call for all passengers traveling on flight 0856 to Santa Cruz de la Sierra."_

"Dad, I'm gonna have to hang up." I told my father quickly, as I hurried toward my gate, fumbling with the zipper of my bag in an attempt to open it to get to my damn boarding pass.

He mumbled a quick goodbye, but I could once again hear a strain in his voice that I had come familiar with over the past few weeks. Ever since I had booked this flight, my father had let me know that he didn't approve of this little trip.

What was I supposed to do, though? I wanted to see my mother and well, that crazy, erratic woman had decided to move to Bolivia of all places. She wanted to 'get in touch' with her inner spirit and apparently the only place to do that was in South America, close to nature and away from technology. Yeah, crazy, I know, but that's my mother.

Honestly, I don't think my dad was really bothered about me _visiting_ my mother because even after being divorced for so long, he still loved her dearly. It's more the environment I would be in that was making him restless. _A bunch of Buddhistic hippies, _he had called the people my mother was currently surrounding herself with, and he was afraid that they would go all voodoo on his precious baby girl. _Not under my watch!_

I smiled at the memory of my father's mumbling that he would have to call my mother with a warning to send me back to Forks in the exact state as I had arrived in Bolivia. I don't know if he actually did it, but I really wanted to have witnessed that conversation. I made a mental note to subtly ask my mother about it later.

After glancing at my ticket and checking my seat number once more, I pushed my carry-on bag into the storage compartment above my seat, cursing a little under my breath because my seat was in the front of the plane - I hated front seats.

Surprisingly, there were hardly any passengers on the flight, even for this particularly small plane. All in all maybe seven people. Then again, I _was_ going to Bolivia of all places.

I couldn't hide my smile as I slid into my seat. Not many passengers would mean a relatively quiet flight. _Thank fucking god! _Still, I couldn't wait for the next nine and a half hours to be over, no matter how peaceful the flight may be.

I threw one last look outside my window and saw the afternoon sun shining brightly, temporarily blinding me. Nonetheless, I was gratefully soaking up the rays of sunshine that I was still able to. By the time I would arrive in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, it would be pitch black again. Arriving somewhere at night wasn't something I was really fond of, but flights to Bolivia were hard to come by, so it wasn't like I had had a lot of options.

"Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the flight crew, welcome aboard flight-" As the steward, a twenty something guy with spiky blond hair, started going over the necessary instructions, I quickly put in my earphones of my iPod to tune out his annoying voice. I had already heard the emergency procedures a thousand times. Enough so that I'm sure I could mouth every word along with the way too skinny, annoying looking steward.

A few minutes later, we took off and as per usual, I couldn't stop myself from looking out of my little window as New York city became smaller and smaller beneath me. It was truly magical.

When we hit the cloud blanket and I could no longer stare out the window at the beauty below, I picked up my bruised and battered copy of _Wuthering Heights_ and leafed to the place I had left off last time. It didn't take me very long to get lost in the love story of Heathcliff and Catherine. I was so engrossed that darkness had fallen upon us, before I realized and there was only an hour and a half before we would be landing.

I stretched my legs and arms, feeling them protest against the lack of movement from the past few hours. Fucking airplanes hardly leave you room to sit in a comfortable position.

I threw a glance around the small plane and noticed that almost everyone had fallen asleep. It was already well past midnight and I could feel myself getting tired as well. Since I had nothing else to do, I decided to try and catch up on some sleep. Even though it would be still be night time when I arrived, I knew that wouldn't stop my mother from pestering me with questions. I figured I would need all the energy I could get.

As I turned my body in my seat, I silently thanked myself for choosing my nicest looking sweat pants, over my favorite pair of jeans. At least now I was somewhat comfortable and with some luck, I might actually sleep the rest of the flight.

But just as I was about to close my eyes, the plane started shaking lightly, waking everyone up and making me moody. _Of course something would disturb my attempt to catch some sleep__!_

Some yelps and screams resonated through the airplane, but as usual the steward was quick to assure everyone that everything was just fine and that we had probably just had some unexpected turbulence. Nothing I wasn't used to - yet.

It was over as soon as it had started, making me roll my eyes at the woman on the opposite side of the plane, who was still looking as if she had seen a ghost. Or still seeing one.

However, a few minutes after I had closed my eyes, the shaking started again, but this time, it was with a force I had never experienced before. I sat up straighter in my seat, allowing the seatbelt to do its job the best it could. I mean, I had heard horror stories about people dying from hitting their head against the roof of the plane because they weren't wearing their seat belts properly. _Ain't gonna happen to me!_

The shaking died down a little but it never really went away, making my earlier broody mood become slightly worried. Sure I had experienced some turbulence before, but this was something entirely different.

I took a deep breath, willing myself to calm down, but the crackling sound of the intercom instantly made my heart speed up again in a bad way.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking," a silky voice sounded through the entire plane. It instantly soothed me. Unfortunately, that only lasted a second because I swear I could hear a panicked undertone to his words. "We have hit an especially large air pocket and are trying to fly past it and continue our journey safely. There might be some more shaking, so please do not leave your seat and keep your seatbelts on until we give you a signal. We're sorry for the inconvenience."

And with that the voice was gone, but I could still hear the clicking of switches and pressing of buttons resonating throughout the plane. It was as if they had forgotten to switch off the intercom. It didn't bother me, as it at least gave me something to focus on, instead of freaking out about the goddamned 'air pocket' or whatever. It seemed like every other passenger was fixed on it, as well. Staring at the little speaker in the front of the airplane as if their lives depended on it.

I forced my eyes to close again as I tried to ignore the constant jolting, but my body was entirely too tense to calm down. A feeling in the pit of my stomach was yelling at me, demanding my attention, but I was too scared to allow myself to think about it any further.

The steward was trying to calm everyone down when arguing voices came over the intercom. Shouting, yelling and even some strong language was being thrown around. It was obvious that the pilot was having an argument with his co-pilot and the ground station. We could hear them snarling at each other, but the intercom crackled too much for us to understand what they were talking about. I wasn't decided yet whether that was a good or a bad thing. One way, I wanted to know what was going on, but I was too afraid that maybe - I wasn't going to like what they were saying.

Another series of jolts seemed to emphasized the latter. _Not good._

At some point, my head started hurting, indicating that we were either going up at an alarming rate or going down. I just hoped that whatever way it was, it was in order to avoid the obstruction in the air and not because things had gone seriously wrong.

It wasn't until the shouting and yelling stopped that the fear gripped me. No more sounds came through the intercom and if it wasn't for the harsh breathing I could still hear, I might have thought that they had simply figured out that the intercom was still on. That wasn't the case, however, because it was still on. No more instructions were given, no more buttons or clicking sounds were heard—it was dead quiet. My heart, on the other hand, was going crazy in my chest, as if it was trying to beat its way out of it.

"We're going to crash," were the last whispered, anxiety-filled words that I heard resonate throughout the plane, seconds before the passengers began screaming and trying to get out of their seats. I, on the other hand, sat frozen in place as the information slowly seeped into my brain. Word per word. Letter per letter. We were going to crash. The plane was going down, taking all of us down with it. Mercilessly.

After hearing those particularly horrifying words, the steward rushed to the opposite side of the small plane, trying with all his might to ignore the woman that was begging him to help her, to save her.

He frantically started rifling through the cabinet at the far end of the airplane, pulling out a few yellow bundles and tossing them towards the panicking people that were surrounding him.

"Those are parachutes," he said, trying to remain as calm as possible, but his eyes and voice were full of fear as well. Yeah, that didn't exactly calm me down. "Put them on as quickly as possible. We'll have to jump."

Everyone quickly strapped the parachute to their back and listened to the brief instructions on how to open them and how to land properly. It was hard to hear him over the wailing woman in the back, but somehow he got everyone to put one on.

"Open the front doors," the steward yelled towards the cockpit, after he was done explaining how to operate the parachute.

Instead of the doors opening, the intercom crackled again, and after a brief silence five words were spoken. "It's too late to jump."

And in that exact moment, with those words, my mind went entirely blank. Every sound, every shout and every other instruction around me faded away and it was only me, and my own thoughts. I stumbled back into my seat and instinctively put on my seat belt again.

For a brief second I wondered, would this be the moment where the story of my life would start to play out in front of me - showing all of the good moments, all the smiles and laughter, but nothing came. There was nothing except my mind screaming at me that this was it. That this was the end - my end. I could feel the force with which the plane was descending and it was as if my body was already counting down the seconds until it would hit the ground. Until we would_all_ hit the ground. There was no escaping it, so in an act of desperation - and maybe hope - I did the only thing that seemed to make any sense at the moment; I put my hands over my head and I prayed - for my life.

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**A/N: Yeah…. *awkward moment***

**Leave your thoughts? *puppy eyes* **

**Oh, you can find the official banner for this fic on my blog .com**

**Until next time,**

**Love, Ellen**


	3. Chapter 2: Crashed

**Once again thank you to all who took the time to write me a review! I really appreciate you wasting time on it ;)**

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**I still don't own Twilight or its characters.**

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**Chapter 2: Crashed**

_Bella_

My head was pounding so hard it felt as if my skull would burst open any second. Everything was fuzzy, as if I was surrounded by a thick, nasty fog. I could hear a voice calling out in the far distance and slowly my brain registered an excruciatingly painful pressure on the left side of my body as well, which made it impossible to focus on anything else. I cried out, noticing that my voice sounded rusty and raw. What the hell had happened?

I tried to open my eyes to check my surroundings but that only intensified the already horrible pressure inside my head, so instead I squeezed them firmly shut, willing the pain to go away.

"Hello?" Something buzzed near me. "Miss?" That same buzzing, only it was a voice that was getting clearer and closer. I wanted to reach out, scream for help, but I found myself locked inside my own body.

"Please...tell me you're alive." There was a clear sound of desperation noticeable in the voice that was now so close, I could almost feel the heat of another body. "Please." It was definitely a man's voice; one I had heard before but couldn't place. I couldn't place anything right now. I felt lost—lost in my own mind and body. Nothing had ever felt more frustrating than this.

I let out another anguished sound, willing myself to wake up from this—whatever it was.

"Oh, thank God," a sob escaped his throat. Again, the sound seemed clearer and the fog seemed to clear slowly. I still didn't dare open my eyes, afraid that the pressure on my skull would become too much even though it already seemed to ease.

I could feel a hand pushing a lock of hair away from my forehead, the warmth of it traveling all the way through my body.

"Miss, can you hear me?" His voice still sounded strangled, but there was a glint of hope in it. I wanted to reach out and shout to him that I could, but all that seemed to escape my throat were a few more unintelligible words and sounds.

I heard moving around and a few seconds later the pressing pain at my left side was gone, leaving just a dull ache. "Can you move?" the man asked, as his fingers pressed lightly on all of my limbs. "Do you feel that?"

I forced myself to nod, willing to give this man—who was so desperately trying to get anything out of me—some indication that I was alive, if that was what I was. "Good, good," he sighed in relief. "Now can you open your eyes?" I wanted to shake my head in response, but something in the tone of his voice really made me want to try. Almost like I didn't want to disappoint him.

I forced my eyes to open, fighting the instinct to keep them closed. The pain wasn't that bad anymore and it wasn't like there was any horribly bright light, so after a few seconds—or minutes, I have no clue—I managed to open them enough to see my surroundings.

And that was when it all came rushing back—the flight, the jolts, the intercom, the shouting, and then the crash.

We had crashed. Our plane had _crashed!_

I bolted upright, acting on adrenaline and fear, but my muscles groaned in protest and my left arm screamed in pain.

"Woah, calm down!" The man's voice was frantic and I could feel his arm support my back, so I wouldn't fall down again. I stared right at him, blinking a few times because my eyes were still unaccustomed to the faint light. All I could make out were the contours of his face. Once my vision had cleared, I could see tousled, bronze hair, a chiseled jaw with a dusting of five o'clock shadow. I must have been hallucinating, because this man seemed more like a figment of my imagination than something real.

"What happened?" I croaked, my eyes once again closing in an attempt to remember everything that happened after I had heard those words that would make me shudder in horror forever. _We're going to crash._

"Shhh," he tried to comfort me, his hands never leaving my body. I couldn't even bring myself to care that a stranger touching me. He didn't seem to have any bad intentions after all. He just seemed worried. "I'll explain later. First, I need to check to see if you have any severe injuries."

I nodded in a daze, still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that I had been in a plane crash and I was still alive. _Holy shit!_

"Can you tell me where it hurts?" he asked, but I was too far gone again to reply. "Miss..."

"Bella," I interrupted him instinctively. I hated to be called 'Miss'. Always had.

"Okay, Bella." He started again, now that he seemed to have my attention, "Does this hurt?" He was putting slight pressure on my legs, but it didn't hurt, so I shook my head.

"My arm does," I managed to croak out, feeling like I had to help him.

"Okay, the left one?" he guessed, already moving closer to my left arm. He had probably been the one to remove whatever was holding me down earlier.

Ever so slowly, he reached out and tried to pry my arm from where it was firmly pressed against my upper body. I yelped in pain from the movement, my eyes instantly looking at the man who was hurting me.

"I'm sorry," he croaked out, but I was too lost in his deep green eyes to care about the fact that he had just hurt me. "Are you okay?" he asked, confused by my sudden silence.

I nodded quickly, forcing myself to look away from the eyes that had drawn me in. "It just hurts." It was only then that I noticed that he wasn't wearing regular clothes. No jeans and shirt, or comfortable clothes, like a normal passenger would wear on a long flight like this. Instead he was wearing a white—now smudged and stained—dress shirt and a pair of black slacks. "You…you're the pilot," I muttered, unable to tear my eyes away from the huge, red blood stain on his left sleeve.

"Captain Edward Cullen at your service, _Miss_," he joked, but there was a hard edge to his voice.

I looked up to see his expression, wondering if I could tell more by it. Instead of figuring out more about him, I suddenly noticed the nasty cut above his left eyebrow. It was still bleeding heavily and every once in a while he would sweep his sleeve across it to wipe away the blood. "You're bleeding," I croaked, my eyes widening in fear.

"I know," he said. "I'll take care of it later, just let me look at your arm first."

"But there is a lot of blood," I protested, turning my body away from him so he couldn't reach my arm. He wouldn't be able to take care of it if he fainted anyway. I wasn't bleeding and he was, so his injuries should take priority.

"Head wounds tend to bleed a lot, it's no big deal," he shrugged, once again reaching for my arm.

I kept turning away from him, but after he have me another stern look and promised me he would be just fine, I allowed him to take a look at my arm. Stubbornness wouldn't get us anywhere now.

"How did it happen?" I asked, unable to take my eyes of the cut on his forehead.

"I don't know," he replied, his voice quickly turning sad and oh so pained. "One minute everything was fine and then suddenly I couldn't control the damn plane anymore."

I gasped in shock, realizing that he had misunderstood my question. I had just been wondering how he got his cut, not about the horrors that we had just been through.

"I was actually wondering about the cut," I whispered, afraid that my voice would betray the turmoil of emotions that was going on inside of me. I wasn't ready yet for the story on how we got here—wherever we were.

"Oh," he said, his eyes still cast down. "I hit the dashboard as we hit the ground. I was lucky."

His hands went back to my arm and after a few movements and yelps from me he offered me a small smile. "It's not broken, just sprained. Just keep it close to your body until we find something to bandage it." I sighed in relief. Me and casts would never be best friends.

"Does it hurt anywhere else?" he asked, his eyes still roaming my body.

"Nowhere in particular," I said, feeling a slight ache in my entire body, but that was probably nothing too bad. Just some bruises and small cuts. I had been freaking lucky. As I realized that I quickly turned to face him again. "The others, we have to help them!" I nearly shouted, trying to get up from my unfortunate place on the ground.

He stayed put beside me, though, his eyes still downcast. I could make out the anguish on his face as he mumbled his next few words. "There are no others. It's just us."

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**A/N: Now, that's that. **

**Reviews make me happy! (Shock, right?)**

**Love, Ellen **


	4. Chapter 3: Harsh reality

**Once again, thank you for the support so far :D It's amazing to read all of the reviews :D **

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**(For the rest of the story; I'd like to point out that I've never been in the same situation as my head characters - lucky me! *knocks on wood*- so I don't know if everything comes even close to reality. I've done some research, but I just write for fun and I don't consider doing tons of research fun. **

**So I'm sorry if there are any big mistakes. If you do happen to notice one, you can of course always point them out to me :) I love to learn!)**

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**Disclaimer: I still do not own Twilight. It all belongs to Ms Meyer ;D)**

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**Chapter 3: Harsh reality**

_Bella_

"_There are no others. It's just us." _

"No others?" I croaked out, my breathing getting heavier with every second. I looked up from his sagged form and cast a glance around the devastation that had once been our plane. The entire rear of the vehicle was completely devastated and the rest of the airplane didn't look any better. Everything was all over the place, including a few bodies of my fellow passengers. No one was moving though, and at first glance I didn't see much blood. _Thank god._

"We need to check them!" I shouted through my tears. I hadn't even noticed I was crying until I saw the tears hit the floor beneath me. I tried to get to the closest man—who was still a few feet away from me, but a hand around my wrist kept me from moving.

"I've already checked them all," he said sadly.

I slumped down again at the sound of his words and tone, not caring about the mess beneath me. I had no strength in my body and the tears poured freely over my cheeks. I was crying for the people who hadn't been so lucky and I was crying that I had survived, even though I had no idea what situation we were really in.

We both remained quiet for a few long minutes, trying to come to terms with our situation. We had been in a plane crash, survived and were lucky to not have any life threatening injuries. Suddenly I was reminded of the rather large gash on his forehead that still hadn't been taken care of. "Where is the first aid kit?" I croaked out, my voice heavy with emotion.

For the first time since he had examined my arm he actually looked at me, confusion all over his features. "Oh right, the bandage!" he exclaimed, jumping up from where he was crouched.

Before I could tell him that I wanted the kit to take care of _his_ wounds, he had already made his way towards the front of the plane that seemed in a pretty good state. I guess the plane had hit the ground rear first. Suddenly I wasn't so upset about my front seat. Everyone else seemed to have less luck with their seating arrangement.

A sharp pain shot through my chest as it sank in that I was surrounded by dead people. People who all had families—that were now torn apart—would soon be receiving the terrible news.

Before I could completely start to panic or have an emotional breakdown about it all, the captain was back, carrying a big white case against his broad chest.

He crouched back in front of me and started rummaging through the content of the kit, clearly looking for something specific. After a few seconds he pulled out a long piece of white gauze and started to tie the ends together with two firm knots. He gave me a sympathetic look as he reached out for my arms and slowly pulled the loop of gauze around it. and then putting it over my head as a makeshift sling. "It's all I could find. It won't give that much of support, but it'll be better than nothing."

When he slumped back against one of the still mostly intact seats, I pulled the first aid kit closer toward me, and started looking for supplies to cover the gash on his forehead.

After I had all of my materials, I crawled toward him, as quickly as was possible with having only one arm to use. I guess cleaning his wound wouldn't be that easy as well.

He followed my every move closely, obviously still not realizing that I just wanted to take care of him. "That cut needs some disinfectant," I explained. "Otherwise it'll start to get infected."

"Oh," was all he said, his eyes once again trailing down to the floor. I hated him for doing that, for closing himself off, but then again, I was still no more than a stranger to him.

I carefully put some disinfectant on a wad of cotton and every so lightly pressed it against the wound. He hissed every time I touched it, but never once asked me to stop. I guess he realized that it needed cleaning, also.

As I put away the cotton wad and reached for the tube of ointment, I couldn't help but wonder what exactly was going to happen now. "Err…" I started, not really know how to start the conversation, especially since I had no idea how to address him. "Captain?"

"Just call me Edward, please," he said, flinching slightly as I applied the ointment.

"Sorry, Edward…err, where exactly are we?" I asked.

"Somewhere in the Amazon Rainforest," he replied emotionless.

"The Amazon?" I yelped, my eyes widening in fear and my fingers froze in place against his forehead.

"Yeah," he said, his eyes still not meeting mine. "Not the deep, deep forest, though. On the radars we were almost past it, so I guess we're really close to the edge of the forest."

I nodded, not knowing how else I should respond. Instead I continued to take care of the nasty cut that was starting to look slightly better. When I was finished putting the gauze over the wound, I slumped back against the seat that was tumbled over opposite to the one he was leaning against, so that I was still facing him.

"Actually, we should consider ourselves lucky," he spoke up again, but the moment he said '_we', _his tone turned sad, obviously burdened by what had happened. "Those trees probably saved our lives. It made the crash less direct because we crashed into the trees first before hitting the ground. I think we've destroyed quite a bit of nature though."

Even though I should have felt happy about it, there was not an ounce of joy in my body. I was still trying to come to terms with everything and I couldn't even consider myself lucky...yet. I would once I was home, or just somewhere away from this place.

"What do we do now?" I asked carefully.

"We wait," he said, pushing away most of the loose pieces of everything around him so he could sit more comfortably. I copied his movements, finally removing the piece of plastic that had been hurting me for a while now. Suddenly, I stopped as shocking images of plane crashes started to play before my eyes—pictures of planes hitting the ground and bursting into flames seconds later.

"Shouldn't we get out of this plane before it catches fire?" I asked, unable to hide the panic in my voice.

Edward slowly shook his head in response and made no attempt to leave his spot on the ground. "The kerosene tanks are still intact," he explained. "If they weren't, the fire would have already started by now."

I slumped down on the floor again, not even realizing that I had jumped up in fear. "You're sure?" I asked once more, still not convinced. I didn't really want to be burned alive, thank you very much.

"I'm sure," he said, and for the first time I could see a small smile play on his lips. It was the most gorgeous thing I had seen in a while. "Besides, it's pitch dark outside, and we're in the middle of the forest. Do you _really_ want to go outside?"

I shook my head furiously, my heart instantly beating faster at the idea of a dark, sinister forest. It sounded pretty much like a nightmare to me.

"So, we just wait?" I echoed his earlier words, swallowing down the fear and putting on a brave face because I wanted more information. I honestly just wanted to make conversation. If not, my mind would make up all kind of horror movie scenarios and I wasn't really keen on those. Especially not when I was one of the main characters in the story.

"Yeah, they're probably already looking for us," he explained. "Usually they start emergency procedures the minute the connection with the ground station is broken. It shouldn't be long before they find us."

I nodded, unable to hide my relief. I couldn't wait for this nightmare to be over and for someone to get me out of this mess.

"So…" I said, not able to look at him as I spoke. I knew this might be hard for him, but I needed answers. Answers and just, you know, something to focus on instead of just having to wait for someone to find us here in the middle of the Amazon forest. "How exactly did we get here?"

"Because of me. It was all my fucking fault," he growled in response, pain laced his words so heavily that I could feel it all the way into my bones. He burrowed his head between his hands and shook it heavily.

Unable to watch him tearing himself down, I scooted closer to him. "It's not your fault," I whispered, afraid that if I spoke any louder he would lash out again.

"I'm the freaking pilot. I'm supposed to keep the plane up in the air, Bella." He looked up at me, his eyes boring into mine. Instead of being intimidated, I only saw grief and powerlessness in his dark green eyes.

"You said something about an air pocket…" I said, hoping to relief some of this sorrow. It wasn't his fault if it was an air pocket. He couldn't have predicted it.

"Yeah, I've never encountered one that large," he said, breathing deeply before continuing. "I wanted to go around it so I changed our course and turned east, but apparently that didn't help. I guess we were trapped already." He dropped his head in his hands again, his fingers pulling his mop of bronze hair in frustration. It was agonizing to watch him.

"We weren't really that high in the air, because we were getting closer to our destination and before I fully realized it, we were already losing altitude. I didn't panic at first, thinking that maybe I could avoid the air pocket by taking another route. I just couldn't get any control over the damn thing anymore once I wanted to try get through it again."

He seemed to break down further with every word, as if every single one of them was like a whiplash across his heart. Unable to stand it any longer, I reached out and put my hand on his shoulder, hoping that he wouldn't shake it off. I needed the comfort of his presence just as much as he needed the actual comfort. I knew that if he wasn't here right now and I would have woken up in this situation without anyone else and I would have already gone crazy. He was the one keeping me alive right now, and I felt the urge to be the same rock to him.

"It really isn't your fault, Edward. Sometimes you just can't fight against nature."

"If I would have been more experienced or just a better pilot in general I might have—" he started, but I cut him off.

"No, Edward, don't. Don't take this all on yourself."

"How can I not?" His eyes were blazing now, challenging me to continue. I wasn't afraid of a challenge, especially not now. "These people are all dead because of me," he growled, gesturing towards the bodies that were still scattered all over the rear of the plane.

"No, these people didn't survive because technology still can't fight some forces of nature," I contradicted.

He looked me right in the eye, his stare never wavering, but I could see his eyes softening a little more every second. "Why are you trying to make me feel better about this?" he mumbled, casting his eyes down again.

"Because it's not your fucking fault!" I nearly yelled, causing him to flinch a little. "You didn't know the damn air pocket was going to be there so there was no way you could have avoided it. You did the best you could, but sometimes you just have to accept what is."

"How can I? How can I just accept that because of my inability to control the aircraft, I have caused so much grief." He was back to pulling his hair now and I could literally feel the pain that was ripping through him. He was trying to carry a burden that no man in his situation should bear.

"Because _you_ weren't incapable. The plane was," I told him once more. I hoped that if I kept repeating that this wasn't his doing, he would actually believe it. I could understand why he felt the way he did, because I know that if I was in his situation I would react in just the same way.

"Can't we just let it go," he pleaded.

"No, Edward," I replied forcefully. "If you can't see the real situation, you're going to keep pushing yourself down."

"But—"

"No! Don't even think about saying it." I started to glare, forcing him to see reason. He had to. "I need you to say it, Edward, and mean it. It. Is. Not. Your. Fault."

He let out a strangled sound and my heart felt as if it was stabbed over and over again. I don't know why, but somehow this man's pain affected me deeply. I would do anything in the world to see his smile from before. That little lopsided smile had instantly made me feel better.

"Please, Edward, just… just see it. See that's it's not your fault, please." Yeah, I was pleading now. I needed him to be strong, so that I could stay strong. I mean, we were still surrounded by corpses and I knew that the only reason I was still upright and not crying my eyes out in a corner was because of him. His presence kept me solid, but if he were to break down, I was sure that I wouldn't be too far behind.

"Please," I said once more, already feeling the tears pricking in the corners of my eyes. With his eyes still downcast he silently mumbled something, but there was no way I could make out what he was saying. He kept talking to himself in the same tone, and honestly, it started to freak me out a little.

"It's not my fault," he suddenly roared and a fierce determination spread across his face. I couldn't hide my smile at the sight of it. He got it. He finally got it.

"It's not," I replied softly, watching his chest heave because of his sudden outburst. He looked so manly now, and I couldn't stop myself from letting my eyes wander over his body. I know I shouldn't have any indecent thoughts in a situation like this, but the man in front of me was truly a sight to behold. His muscles were visible through his white dress shirt, but it wasn't like he was overly muscular. It was just the right amount. As my eyes kept raking over his features, the lights suddenly started flickering, making me cry out in surprise.

"I guess we're almost out of solar power to keep the lights on," Edward sighed right as the lights went out completely. "Yes, we are," he added, his words resonating through the darkness.

"What do we do now?" I asked in fear. I had never been fond of the darkness and being in a plane wreck, in the dark, in the middle of a freaking forest, didn't really make me feel comfortable. _How surprising._

"There isn't anything we can do about it," he replied, and I could hear him shift around a bit. As the seconds went by I could start making out his features again, but it did nothing to ease my fright.

"Don't worry," he said, obviously sensing my discomfort. "We'll be fine." I nodded slowly, not realizing that he probably couldn't really see me, but neither of us seemed to care.

"Oh, and thank you," he added a few seconds later, his voice sounding small again.

"For what?" I asked confused as I tried to get as comfortable as possible.

"For making me see reason," he replied and I swear I could see him smile my now favorite smile.

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**A/N: Thank you for reading :) You're amazing!**

**Reviews are highly appreciated. (Duh!)**

**Hope to "see" you back next week (or maybe earlier!) I am leaving on a three week holiday starting next Wednesday and the first few days I should have internet, but I'm not sure about the rest of them... I'll try to keep to my updating schedule, but I can't promise anything!**

**Love, Ellen**


	5. Chapter 4: Wall of trees

**Early update because I'm leaving on holiday tomorrow so I won't have time to update anytime soon!**

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**Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, I just play with them. **

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**Chapter 4: Walls of trees**

_Bella_

It had been _hours_. Hours of sitting in the exact spot, in the exact same position. It had been four hours and now I could see the sun creeping through the windows of the plane. We were already past dawn and yet we hadn't heard any sound of a helicopter or any other form of rescue. With every second that passed, my fear increased.

In an attempt to make me feel better, Edward told me that the delay might be due to the fact that we were in a forest and because the crash had happened during the night, but I could see the frustration and confusion on his face as well. Something wasn't right. Something wasn't right at all.

"I need some air," he said curtly after another half an hour of awkward silence between us. Without casting me another glance, he got up from where he had been sitting for the past few hours.

He stretched his limbs before making his way to the door of the plane. I could see him trying to avoid to look to his left, where most of the bodies were still lying. Even though he seemed to have accepted that it wasn't his fault, I could still see the pain behind his eyes as he thought about the harsh consequences of the crash.

It took him a few minutes to be able to open the heavy, distorted door manually, but once he succeeded, I instantly felt the fresh air flow through the small space we had been in for the past few hours. Realizing I was now alone in this mess and I could no longer see Edward, I jumped up from my place and made my way through the devastation to get outside, too.

Once out of the confines of the plane, I breathed in deeply, feeling my lungs expand with the intake of fresh air. I found myself standing on top of a tree that had fallen down due to the crash. There were some other demolished trees around me, also, leaving us quite some space to check the devastation. However, once I looked beyond that, I was met by a huge wall of trees. My eyes trailed over the entire length of the massive forest, up to the leafy canopy that was blocking most of my view from the now blue sky. Apparently, a few trees being taken down didn't really change a lot about the density of the foliage. The trees surrounding the devastation were still mighty enough to cover it all up.

"Maybe that's why they can't find us," I told Edward, pointing upwards.

He looked up from his place a few feet away from me, staring at the green leaves for a few seconds. "Maybe," he muttered, but then remained quiet. I hated not knowing what he was thinking, especially because he was supposed to know more about what was going to happen than I was.

"Edward?" I asked, hating the tremble in my voice. I didn't want to appear weak in front of him, but honestly, I was even more scared now than right after I had woken up after the crash.

"There isn't much we can do but wait," he explained, letting himself slide down against the side of the plane, onto a tree that was pushed down by it. I cautiously made my way towards him, almost jumping from one tree to another. I could see him glancing at me every once in a while as I was doing my acrobatics, and at least once I saw a smile on his lips, before I reached him.

"May I?" I asked, gesturing towards the spot next to him.

"Sure," he replied, even scooting over a bit so I had more space. I carefully took a seat and leaned back.

"This is safe, right?" I asked before making myself as comfortable as possible.

"Yeah," he nodded. "I think so."

"If we weren't in such a miserable position, I might actually consider this a beautiful sight," he said after a while, pointing at the wall of trees that seemed to go on forever.

My eyes followed his hands before settling on his features. There wasn't a sign of unease—not one. It almost looked as if, to him, the past few hours hadn't happened and that we had just ended up here intentionally, like a simple vacation.

"How can you remain so calm?" I asked a little frustrated, wondering why he wasn't even showing signs of wanting to scream, cry and tear his hair out. I certainly felt like doing so.

"I don't think I've fully realized it all yet," he shrugged, looking over his shoulder towards the plane wreck. "It'll come soon enough, though." A look of pure, unadulterated fear must have crossed my face, because he was quick to put his hand on my shoulder in comfort. It did little to ease my anxiety, even though I enjoyed the warmth of his palm. "Don't worry," he added with a soft smile. "I'll keep strong until rescue is here. Promise."

I nodded slowly, but my stomach was still feeling heavy with fear. I got his point, though. I don't think I realized it all myself...yet. I actually considered myself pretty calm, considering the circumstances. I suddenly started to fear the moment everything would come crashing down on me.

"We'll be fine," he added, successfully decreasing my fear a little more...again. I don't know whether it was his actual words that had made me feel better or the soft smile that once again played on his lips. I didn't really matter anyway. As long as I wasn't having a panic attack, I wouldn't worry about the reasons that were keeping me afloat.

Just as I was about to ask another question, a loud rumble sounded from my stomach. I instinctively wrapped my arms around my torso, willing it to stop sounding like a whale. However, hearing the sound of his laughter coming from next to me, I could live with the mortification.

"Nature's way of saying 'Feed me'," Edward laughed, and soon I was laughing along with him. I guess even the smallest things could send me into hysterics now. _How sad._

"There should still be a lot of food in the kitchen of the plane. I remember the steward stocking it before we took off." Edward said, once his laughter had subsided a bit. Feeling my empty stomach protest silently again, I made a move to get up to try and find something to eat.

"Please, let me, before you break a leg trying to climb over those trees. A sprained arm is enough for now," he smirked, pushing himself up gracefully. I had to fight the urge to smack him in the arm for his smug behavior.

"Be right back," he called out, making his way to the front of the plane in no time. Show-off. If he wasn't getting me food, I might have hated him for being so quick while I was obviously as fast as a damn slug.

A few minutes later, he returned with both of his arms full of stuff. Now, at least, he seemed to have more difficulties making it over to where I was sitting. He tossed the few items he was holding into my lap first, before sliding down next to me. He had prepared a few sandwiches and brought some fruit juice as well.

"Wow, five-star breakfast," I joked, but honestly, my mouth started watering at the sight alone. He snickered at my lame attempt at a joke.

"Well, I hope you like what I put on them. It's the only fresh thing I could find. All of the rest has either gone bad already or is in cans."

"I'd eat anything right about now," I said before taking a big bite out of the first sandwich I could reach. It tasted like heaven. "This is really good," I gushed, my mouth still full of bread and meatloaf.

"Care to share?" he asked with a soft smile.

"Oh, of course ,sorry!" I exclaimed, pushing the box with sandwiches in his lap. He quickly took one and in three big bites it was gone. I couldn't stop staring at him as he was eating. It was truly mesmerizing.

"So," I said, after he had finished his second sandwich, "Do you have someone special waiting for you at home?"

As soon as the words had left my mouth, I honestly wanted to smack myself for asking a question like that now. I didn't want him to start worrying about people he cared about who were probably just being alerted that we were missing.

"What do you mean?" he asked, wiping his mouth with the back of his sleeve.

"You know, a girlfriend or a wife," I added, figuring that there wasn't really a way around it anymore. And well, I was curious.

"No," he replied, a sad look quickly crossing his face. "Being a pilot kind of makes that hard. I'm not home a lot. You?" I sighed in relief when it didn't look like I had upset him with my question.

"Do I have a boyfriend?" I asked dumbly. He nodded, still staring at me. "No, too much of a workaholic for that," I explained with a shrug.

"Really? You don't strike me as the type who works all the time."

"I had my dreams and I wanted to achieve them as quickly as possible. And now I've worked so hard to get there that I don't want to see it all go to waste."

"Makes sense," he mumbled, before picking another sandwich out of the box that had landed back in my lap.

"So, did you always know you wanted to be a pilot?" I asked.

"Since I was a little boy," he grinned at me. "Cliché right?" I smiled in response, imagining a little bronze haired guy running around the living room pretending to be a airplane. "My grandfather took me to an exhibition of old planes when I was about six. I loved it. That's when I knew what I wanted to do when I was older. I wanted to fly the aluminum birds." His eyes sparkled as he recounted the entire story of his day out with his 'gramps' and I found myself smiling throughout the entire story. But the last few words he said completely broke my heart to pieces. "But I don't know if I'll ever fly again."

I didn't even know how to reply to it. "I'm sorry," I mumbled quietly, wanted to say something, but all I got out of him was a shrug. The laid back mood we had had enjoyed for the past hour seemed to be swept away just like that. I should have known that I was treading dangerous waters by my stupid questions.

So thanks to my curiosity we spend the next few hours in silence, occasionally getting up to stretch our legs but other than that, we just waited.

As time went by, I suddenly started feeling like that awful play _Waiting for Godot_. I felt like no one would ever come, and still we waited. Not moving, just staring up at the sky and listening for the tiniest sound. I felt like crying.

"Edward…" I started, carefully breaking the silence. Before I could get one more word past my lips, he was up and out of reach.

"This can't be happening," he shouted, pacing the length of one of the tree trunks. "They're supposed to come! They're supposed to find us! They were supposed to be here hours ago!" His voice had reached a volume so high that it nearly scared me. I bet every animal in a ten mile radius heard him as well.

"What if something went wrong with the communication and they can't find us," I nearly whispered, afraid to voice my thoughts. The look on his face, however, told me that he had considered this scenario, too. "Edward?" I asked again after a few minutes of silence.

"I don't know, okay?" he yelled, violently gripping his hair. "I have no idea what we have to do or should or should not do! I'm just as clueless as you are!"

I stared at him in shock, feeling the tears prick the corners of my eyes. As the first teardrop rolled down my cheek, I pulled my knees up to my chest and wrapped my arms around myself. I felt sobs breaking through my chest as reality hit me hard and fast. They weren't coming. No one was going to save us. It was just me, Edward, and an endless amount of trees. We were doomed.

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**A/N: Thank you for reading! Please leave me your thoughts in a review! I really appreciate it :) **

**The next update should be next week sometime, probably next Friday :)**

**Love, Ellen**


	6. Chapter 5: Plan B

******A/N - Thanks to all of those who read, review and add to your alerts and fave's. You're truly awesome! Also a big thank you to the few people who provided me with some information on plane crashes. I don't like doing research, so your input is highly appreciated! **

******I still don't own Twilight, unfortunately. **

******Thank you to momma2fan for taking care of my mistakes! **

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**Chapter 5: Plan B**

_Bella_

I don't know how long I sat there, wrapped up in myself and closed off from the outside world. I no longer felt present in my own body and mind. It was as if I had already died a little.

After God knows how long, my sobbing started to die down as my body no longer had the strength to keep them coming. It was only then that I became aware of the fact that I was cradled by two strong arms.

Edward.

He kept murmuring something against the top of my head, but because of the terrible headache I now had after my breakdown, I couldn't understand anything.

I shifted a bit, trying to get my arm out of his hold because honestly, it hurt like hell. The bandage was still wrapped around it, but it didn't really lessen the pain. Edward instantly let go of me when I started wriggling and the look he then gave me was one full of concern. I just shrugged it off tried to get up, but I instantly felt dizzy and had to sit down again. "Careful," Edward said, his voice small. "You blacked out for quite a while."

"I'm sorry," I said in a reflex, my eyes trailing down.

"No, it's my fault," he quickly said as he placed his hand on my arm. "I shouldn't have yelled at you." I shook my head, wanting him to know that I didn't blame him for freaking out in a moment like this. Especially, after I seemed to have had a major breakdown as well.

"My head hurts," I mumbled instead, instantly bringing up my hand to press it against my forehead, willing the pain to go away.

"I think I can find something in the first-aid kit to make it go away," he said quickly before jumping up and gracefully making his way into the plane again. When he came back out of the wreck, I could see him take a large gulp of air before making his way back over to me. He quickly handed me a bottle of water and a small white tablet. I swallowed it without a second thought.

For a while, I didn't dare look at Edward, but I could feel his presence close to me. Sometimes, I thought he was going to speak, but every time he seemed to attempt it, he would shut his mouth. After a few minutes I couldn't take it any longer. "What is it, Edward?" I asked, irritated. _Yeah, my throbbing head didn't make me much nicer._

"Nothing," he mumbled, looking away the minute my eyes fell on him.

I sighed, "So nothing is what you've been trying to tell me for a few minutes now?"

"I just don't know how to approach the topic," he whispered, before trailing his eyes back to mine.

I felt the fear grip my body again the second he had said those words and instantly he scooted closer again. His put his hand on my arm again and I instantly felt the warmth of his palm relieve some of the anxiety. He was still here. He hadn't gone crazy. No matter what happens, I wasn't alone. We were in this together and we had to stay strong for each other. I closed my eyes for a second, willing myself to believe what I was trying to convince myself of. When I opened them again, Edward was once again staring at me with a worry filled gaze. It looked like he was waiting for the next major breakdown but I was determined to stay put now. I wasn't going to breakdown again, or at least I was going to try not to.

I took a deep breath before speaking up, "Just hit me."

"What?"

"Tell me whatever it is you want to tell me. I can take it now," I said.

"Are you sure? You still look a little pale," he replied carefully.

"I'm fine, Edward. Please, just tell me."

He took a deep breath before getting something out of his left pants pocket. For a moment, he just kept his fingers closed around whatever he had, but then he pulled open my hand and put the object in my palm. "A compass?" I asked confused as I noticed what he had given me. "Why did you—" And then it hit me. "You want to go in there, don't you?" I shrieked, pointing towards the seemingly never-ending forest.

"What other option do we have?" he retorted, his voice never rising one bit.

"Uh, well, we could I don't know, _wait!"_ I shouted.

He turned his head away from me, staring towards the dense forest on our right. "We've been waiting for twelve hours now, Bella. They should have found us by now. Something must have gone wrong," he said, his voice smaller than before. "We could sit here and wait, but by doing that, we're not going to save ourselves."

Slowly he turned to look at me again and the range of emotions I saw in his eyes were making me feel dizzy. Confusion, fear, anger, but there was one that made me press for more details on his plan; _hope_. "How do you see us surviving when we go into a forest without having any clue where exactly we are?"

"Well, I don't know _exactly_ where we are," he started, obviously relieved that I was offering him a chance to speak his mind. "But a few seconds before we crashed the radar showed that we were really close to the edge of the forest. Maybe about a three day walk, I'm guessing. I'm pretty sure there are some villages or maybe at least some tribes who live close to the edge of the forest."

I took a deep breath, considering his idea. "How sure are you about the time estimation?" I asked, my eyes never leaving the dense forest that was in front of us.

"It could be a little more, but it could also be less. I know it shouldn't be more than a week, at least." I nodded, slowly processing the information. "And besides, I'm not sure how long we should stay here," he continued. "Those bodies inside are already getting infested with flies because of the cracks in the plane. They're also starting to stink really bad." I could almost imagine the horrible smell of death just by the grimace on his face and I felt the bile rising up in my throat. "Sorry," Edward said, obviously noticing my discomfort.

I took a few breaths of the fresh, humid air, and felt my stomach calming down. It was a wonder I wasn't puking my guts out with the visual Edward had just given me.

"Do you really think we could make it?" I asked.

"Do you think I would risk it if I didn't?" he retorted, a lopsided smile on his face. I playfully pushed him in his chest, rolling my eyes at his smug behavior. "No, honestly Bella, I wouldn't lead us into the forest if I knew that we were going to get stuck anyway," he said seriously now. "We stand a pretty good chance of making it out of there."

I took another deep breath before saying the words I hoped I would never regret. "Okay, let's do it."

"Yeah?" he asked, seeking confirmation once more. I nodded, wanting him to know that I was supportive of his idea. He was right after all—they still hadn't shown up after twelve hours and staying here wasn't going to save us.

"I suggest we start moving tomorrow at dawn. That gives them another twelve hours to find us and we can also get some more sleep tonight, so that we're fit enough to start walking."

"Shouldn't we leave as soon as possible?" I asked confused.

"I just want to give them another chance to locate the plane. And it's going to get dark soon. I don't want to start exploring the forest for the first time during the night." I shivered at the thought of being in the deep forest at night, but there wasn't going to be a way around it.

"So, what do we do now?" I asked, my voice weak.

"Well, I'm sure we can find some backpacks inside the wreck. We can fill them with as much food and water as possible," he said contemplative. "Hmm, and we should take the first aid kit with us, too, just in case. And some other utilities."

"Okay," I said, trying to get up using only my right hand.

"What are you doing?" Edward asked.

"Going to make the backpack?" I replied slowly.

"No, please, let me," he said, getting up a lot quicker than I could. "You really don't want to go inside the plane again."

"Edward, I'm not a little kid." I chastised him even though I appreciated his urge to protect me. Nonetheless, I wanted to show him that I could take care of myself and that I wasn't some scared chick who was afraid to get her nails broken.

"Sorry," he mumbled, offering me an apologetic glance.

And just like that we made our way inside the wreckage to start getting ready for our possible trip. The nauseating smell inside instantly invaded my senses, making me cover my mouth and nose with my hand. It smelled like dead animals and something else I couldn't quite place. We quickly rummaged through the entire plane, trying to find the biggest backpacks we could, before stuffing them with as many cans of food and bottles of water they would hold, along with some other things like lighters, toilet paper, a parachute and other smaller, useful things.

"This should definitely keep us going for a week," Edward said quickly through clenched teeth as we had finished packing everything edible. Even after being inside the wreck for a few minutes, we still weren't used to the horrible stench.

After putting the bags close to the door, we made our way outside again, gratefully welcoming the fresh air again. Forests had never smelled better.

With Edward's help, I managed to get over to the places against the plane we were occupying earlier, a lot faster. Once we were seated, Edward looked at me again, seeming to check if I was going to fall apart again. He seemed to have been doing that a lot the past few hours. "I'm fine," I reassured him. "Well, as fine as I can be, of course."

He took a deep breath before scooting even closer toward me. The side of his thigh was now slightly brushing mine. "Bella," he started carefully. "How do you _really_ feel about making our way through the forest?"

I thought about it for a second, and instantly the fear I had been pushing down the past few hours started bubbling on the surface. I suddenly remembered all the documentaries I had seen on National Geographic about all the different kind of animals that lived in the Amazon Rainforest. Not to mention all the crazy movies I had seen about people trying to survive in similar conditions.

"Bella, breathe," Edward said worriedly as he noticed my fearful expression. His hand was once again on my arm, rubbing soothingly.

"There are really dangerous animals out there, right?" I asked, my voice sounding so small and fragile that I was surprised he had caught my question.

"Probably yeah," he said, keeping close attention to my reactions as he spoke. "But since we're already closer to the edge, I don't think we really have to worry about the big predators. We'll just have to pay attention to some of the smaller animals."

"Like?" I asked, breathing in deeply as I waited for this response.

"Frogs, spiders, snakes, flies and all that," he explained. "Some can be invisible, but can cause a _lot_ of harm."

I tried to process everything, suddenly not very keen on leaving the plane anymore. At first I had just been worried about not finding our way out of it, but there was obviously a lot more to keep in mind.

"Edward?" I managed to croak out. He must have felt my panic coming because before I knew it, I was surrounded by his strong arms again. "I'm so scared," I mumbled as I felt a hot tear trickle down my cheek.

Edward instantly started shushing me, rocking me slowly. It only offered a little comfort, but at least it was something. "Bella, there is no need to be scared. I promise you I'll get us both out of here," he said, determination clear in his voice.

"But how? How on earth will we get through that wilderness when we hardly know what's in there?" I sniffed.

"The key is just to stay alert and watch your every move. If we do that, we'll be fine, Sweetheart." He said, pressing me closer against his body. The heat that radiated off his chest actually made me feel better—safer. I could really use a feeling of security right now.

He held me for a long time, until the sky above us darkened and the sounds coming from the forest around us began to creep me out. I really wasn't looking forward to spending a few days in there, not knowing where we were and how long we would be stuck, but I trusted Edward completely and I knew he wouldn't send us straight to our grave.

"Is there any way we can sleep inside the plane tonight?" My voice sounded raspy from the crying and being silent for so long.

Edward's face instantly scrunched up at my proposal. I guess I had my answer. "Why?" he asked. "It's not going to get cold tonight, I don't think. And it's not a lot warmer inside, anyway."

"It's not the cold I'm worried about. It's just that I know that I won't get a lot of sleep with all these noises going on." Especially not now that I knew what was hiding in those forests.

"Well, maybe we could see if it's possible to sleep in the cockpit. Most of the bodies are more towards the rear of the plane, anyway. And there are two doors separating the cockpit from the rest of the plane." He got up and started making his way to the plane, again. "You stay there, I'll go check the stench there."

But the minute he was inside, and I was alone surrounded by trees and darkness, I got up and quickly made my way over to the plane, too. I didn't care what he had said. Being alone outside scared the living shit out of me. I still wasn't really convinced about his theory of jaguars and other big predators not coming that close to the edge. Especially when there was some meat—rotting meat. I shivered at the thought and my stomach turned once again. I already hated myself for even thinking about it. Just as I was about to open the door, Edward came out again, taking a large gulp of air.

I gave him an apologetic look as he asked me why I wasn't sitting down anymore, and luckily he didn't press any further. Instead he told me his idea on my sleeping proposal. "It isn't that bad in the cockpit, as I suspected. Unfortunately, it will get worse overnight. We can always go back outside when it gets too bad, though. I've also found some air freshener...so, I guess we could give it a shot."

I sighed in relief at his conclusions and followed him towards the cockpit, trying to take as small breaths as possible.

Once the doors between the cockpit and the body of the plane had been closed, I had found I could actually breathe, even though I could still smell some of the stench.

"Welcome to the cockpit, Miss," Edward grinned as he let himself fall down into the pilot's chair.

I instantly let my gaze go over all of the buttons and switches that were all over the place. They covered the whole front half of the small room. "How the hell do you know which ones to press?" I asked in shock.

"We learn it in school," he stated matter-of-factly.

"Thank God you do," I said, taking a seat in the other empty chair. I could see Edward reach for the air freshener and he carefully sprayed some towards the door. The flowery scent instantly invaded my senses.

"Err, where is the co-pilot?" I asked, suddenly remembering the arguing over the intercom. Shouldn't he have been in the cockpit as well?

"He ran out of his seat a few seconds before we crashed because usually the pilot is the first to die in a crash," Edward explained, his features turning sad again. "But because of the trees the odds changed. I found his body at the back of the plane when I checked everyone."

I took another deep breathe, hating to be reminded of the people that hadn't been as lucky as we were. Well, that is if you could consider us lucky. We might still be alive but we weren't saved yet.

"Bella, I told you, we'll be fine." Edward repeated, once again perfectly able to sense my mood. I don't know how exactly he did it, but I was grateful for it. He knew exactly what I needed to hear and somehow he managed to make me believe him.

"Anyway, we better try to catch some sleep, so we're fit to start walking tomorrow in case there isn't any sign of help yet." He said before throwing me a blanket he had picked up earlier.

I threw it lazily over my shoulders, instantly smelling the flowery scent from the air freshener again. Edward had obviously already sprayed some on it. I tried to get as comfortable as possible in the big leather chair. With an intense fear spreading through my veins at the thought of going into the eerie forest and leaving the plane behind, I tried to get some sleep, praying that they would find us before dawn.

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**A/N: Thank you for reading! **

**Next update will be next weekend, considering I'm leaving on holiday again tomorrow! :D (Yes, I'm a travel addict!)**

**Hope you'll all have a good week!**

**See you again next time, hopefully :)**

**Love, Ellen**


	7. Chapter 6: Packing up

**Back from holiday, so back with a new chapter!**

**Disclaimer: SM owns the characters!**

**Once again thank you to everyone who takes the time to read and review! :D**

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**Chapter 6: Packing up **

_Bella_

I woke up to the first rays of morning sun coming through the cracked window. It blinded me momentarily, but I didn't need to see my surroundings to remember where I was. The gut-wrenching stench that was all over the cockpit now told me enough. Within a minute, I was out of my seat and outside the plane, sucking in deep breaths of fresh air in an attempt to calm my stomach. But even the air surrounding the plane was already tainted.

Once I was sure I wasn't going to lose the little contents of my stomach, I looked around me, trying to spot my bronze-haired captain.

"I'm sorry," Edward said from his place against one of the trees a couple of feet away, once I noticed him. "I woke up before you and couldn't take the horrible smell any longer, but I didn't want to wake you."

I walked over to where he was sitting, needing the fresher air as well. "It's okay," I said, taking a seat on the ground next to him. The air between us was tense, we both knew what was going to happen now. There was no sign of rescue and by now it was fairly obvious that something had one seriously wrong. It looked like we were on our own.

I stole one of his sandwiches and nibbled on it, but didn't enjoy it. I don't know if it was the atmosphere or the actual sandwich. I forced myself to eat it anyway, knowing that I would need some food in my system for what we had planned today.

"I guess there is no avoiding it any longer, right?" I stated, tired of our silence.

"Yeah," he mumbled, picking up a broken twig from the ground and rolling it between his fingers, lost in thought. On one hand I wanted to demand he tell me what he was thinking, but on the hand I figured that maybe he needed a moment to process all of this, too. He might appear strong but every so often I would see his façade slip a bit. He was human after all.

After a few more minutes, he looked up at me and gave me a small smile. "Well, let's get going then, shall we?" he said, his eyes still emotionless. Without another word he got up, offered me his hand and carefully pulled me up as well.

He told me to wait outside as he quickly ran into the wreck to get our backpacks. I was relieved that I didn't have to go inside again. He was back within seconds, coughing and gasping for air. I quickly handed him the bottle of water that had been next to him, but he declined it with a small hand gesture. "I'm not thirsty. We should keep it for later," he explained before putting the heavy backpacks next to my feet.

He pulled some rope from out of his dress pants and started attaching one of the parachute bags to one of the packs. "Why do we need that?" I asked, wondering why he wanted to drag that heavy thing along.

"Basic survival, Bella," he said, his mood a little better than before. "We can build some shelter out of it for during the night."

I suddenly felt the need to throw my arms around him or at least thank god for dropping me in the forest with this man. At least he seemed to know something about survival. I suddenly felt a lot more positive about going in there, even though I still wasn't so keen on it.

Just as I was about to ask what else he had thought of to keep us safe, an uneasy feeling started to make itself known. I started wobbling from one foot to another, trying to figure out how the hell I was going to relieve myself without either being seen by Edward or having to go inside the forest. The idea of being bitten in the ass by some spider or other creepy animal wasn't really something that looked like a lot of fun.

Edward must have noticed my discomfort because he stopped rearranging stuff in the backpacks and shot me a confused glance. I could feel my cheeks reddening instantly. Realization dawned on him and he couldn't hide his smirk. If he didn't look so damned handsome doing it, I might have smacked the smugness out of him.

"Just go behind the plane," he said, serious again, although I could still detect a glint of humor in his features. "I won't look. Promise."

I shot him another glare before carefully making my way to the other side of the plane. Smug bastard. _He_ didn't have to worry about being bitten in the ass. Stupid men who can pee while standing. Not fair.

When I returned to his side of the wreck, feeling a whole lot better, he was still working on the backpacks. I awkwardly stood next to him, watching his every move and trying to figure out what exactly he was doing. I had no clue. But at least he seemed to know. _Thank fucking god._

After everything was attached, he stood up next to me and pulled out the compass."We were flying north right before we started crashing so if I we keep going north, maybe slightly north west, we'll get out of the forest quicker—I think," he explained, showing me the spinning of the needle inside the fancy compass.

"Do we have a few more minutes before we have to leave?" I asked, my eyes not leaving the needle that was now pointed straight forward. I was hypnotized by it. Edward's voice shook me out of it so I could focus again on what I was going to ask.

"Err, sure," he said, confused.

"I would like to clean your wound once more," I explained, finally looking up at him again and specifically towards the now dirty gauze on his forehead.

"Oh, but it's fine," he shrugged.

"Edward, please," I sighed, already crouching down to get the first-aid kid from out of the backpack. "You really don't want it to start getting irritated, believe me."

"Okay," he said, taking a seat next to me, "On one condition, though." I looked up at him, wondering what the hell that condition could be. "You let me take another look at your arm and take a painkiller," he said, nodding towards the arm I was still holding firmly against my chest.

I deliberated for a while, but when I realized that it would be nice to have the dull ache in my arm gone, I agreed to his condition. I quickly took care of his cut, and then in return let him take another—unneeded—look at my arm. It would just need rest, that's all. Considering the condition we were in now, that rest would just have to wait.

I was about to get up again when he pushed a little white tablet into my palm. I swallowed it quickly with as little water as possible, remembering his earlier statement that we could probably use every drop of water we had later. His eyes never left mine as I was taking the medicine, as if he was checking if I was really taking it.

"Want to check under my tongue, _Mom," _I joked. He just shook his head before getting up and wiping his hands on his pants. I don't think you could longer call them dress pants considering how dirty they already were.

"Shouldn't we take some spare clothes?" I asked, suddenly realizing that I would be in the same dirty clothes for at least three more days.

"I tried to open the baggage section of the plane, but it's completely stuck," he replied sadly. "I would have loved a change of clothes, too." He motioned towards his probably very uncomfortable outfit. At least I was lucky enough to be in sweat pants, a t-shirt and a sweater. I shot him an apologetic look but he shook it off, telling me that there wasn't anything to be done now. Except for leaving. The sun was already pretty high in the sky, so we would have to start moving soon if we wanted to get somewhere today.

Realizing that there was no point in postponing the inevitable any longer, I turned towards the backpacks that were still on the ground before us.

"No, you take the other one," Edward said as I went to take the left one.

"Why?" I asked, my hand freezing in between the two bags. I didn't see any difference between the two of them, except that the one was an ugly green color while the other was a nice grey.

"It's a lot lighter," he explained, quickly throwing the grey colored one over his shoulder. It didn't seem so heavy like that.

"Edward, I can carry some weight," I chastised.

"Please, just take that one. It'll make me feel better, especially because you only have one arm you can use."

After taking a deep breath, and forcing myself not to argue with him, I took the greenish bag and slung it over my shoulder. When I felt the full weight of the bag, I was suddenly not so upset about having the _l__ighter_ one. This one was already pretty heavy. I didn't want to try lifting the bag Edward was carrying anymore.

"You ready?" he asked, offering me a small smile. It didn't reach his eyes though.

"As ready as I'll ever be," I replied, with a similar fake smile. And with that I took my first step into the forest, never looking back at the wreck behind us. We would really have to save ourselves now.

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**Thank you for reading!**

**Love, Ellen**


	8. Chapter 7: Into the forest

**A day later than promised 'cause I had babysitting duty last night. **

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**Chapter 7: Into the forest**

_Bella_

We had only been walking for five hours and I was already ready to die. Not literally of course, although my body was protesting with every move I made.

The sun was now at its highest peak and the heat was getting uncomfortable as it shone down on us through the canopy. Edward obviously noticed my exhaustion as I kept trailing behind him, holding us up since I was unable to keep up with his pace. There had already been a few open spaces through the forest and those hadn't really been an issue, but now we seemed to be crossing a really dense part, which wasn't really working in my favor. I can't even remember how many branches I had already run into or how many times I had almost tripped. It was a miracle that I hadn't met the ground yet. It was bound to happen soon though, with my awesome equilibrium. And it didn't help either that I only had the use of one arm to keep myself stable.

"Let's take a little break and eat something," Edward said a while later, looking sympathetic since I had once again ended up a few feet behind him. I plopped down immediately right where I was standing, not needing to hear the word 'break' twice, and let out a sigh of relief when I put the damn heavy backpack down. I thanked myself again for not arguing _too_ much over him having the heavier one. I don't think I would've been able to get very far if I'd've had to carry another ounce of weight.

"My back is killing me," I groaned, as I stretched my aching muscles in an attempt to relieve some of the pain.

"Wow, backaches at such a young age already," Edward joked as he took a seat next to me. He didn't seem tired at all. Like he was carrying a backpack full of feathers instead of the real heavy content. Damn him.

I playfully pushed him away, but I couldn't hide the grin on my face. Even in this misery, he could make me smile. It must be a gift. One I was really lucky he possessed right now. I honestly wouldn't know what to do without him.

"How old are you anyway?" he asked nonchalantly, not meeting my gaze.

"I'll be twenty-four in September," I said. "And you?"

In a way I hoped he would say he was younger than me, so I could blame my slowness on my older age, but I was already pretty sure he was older. "I've just turned twenty-seven," he said, confirming my suspicion.

I nodded meekly and after that we remained quiet for a while as he opened one of the cans of food from my backpack—which I was grateful for. I didn't even want to check the label because I knew it would be horrible anyway. Canned food is not exactly my favorite, but I guess I couldn't be picky now. It was either that or nothing. So brown slush it was. And cold brown slush at that. Yuck! I've always hated airplane food, but this time it was even worse. It seemed like Edward wasn't really enjoying our meal either, but neither of us vocalized our complaints; we just finished our food in silence.

Until now I really hadn't had any difficulties with annoying animals, but now that I was seated, it seemed like every little bug was sneaking out of its hole to scare the hell out of me. I shrieked every time I noticed a beetle or mosquito, causing Edward to snicker.

"You should only be afraid of the ones with the flashy colors. They're usually the poisonous ones," he said between two bites. "And remember, as long as you don't try to harm them, they will be harmless as well."

"They're still annoying," I protested, waving my free hand around my face to keep the flying bugs away. I guess the small layer of grime and sweat that was already on my forehead wasn't very useful at keeping them away. I felt downright dirty after two days of not showering or changing clothes. Not to mention the exhausting five hour walk in these warm conditions. Yeah, I must have looked really attractive. Edward on the other hand seemed like he could have just walked off of a photo shoot. A weird photo shoot, but still, he looked gorgeous. His black slacks were a little dirty but still hung nicely on his hips and his white dress shirt was now slightly unbuttoned, showing off some skin. The stubble he had going on now was giving him a more manly look, something I totally approved off. I admit it, I could have had worse partners to be stuck with.

After too short of a break, Edward put everything that we could still use back in his backpack and asked me if I was ready to leave again. With a groan, I got up, feeling slightly better after having had some lunch and some time to recover.

"Maybe you should go first, and decide how fast we go," Edward mused as he helped me with my backpack.

"Won't that slow us down even more?" I asked, once again feeling bad for being the slow one.

"I'd rather go a little slower than have you collapse entirely," he said, concern lacing in his voice.

I nodded and offered him a little smile in return for his kindness. He squeezed my shoulder lightly and it surprisingly made me feel a whole lot better. So with renewed energy, I took off again, trying to make my way through the dense forest that stretched out in front of me. I ducked under branches, crawled over downed trees, avoided suspicious looking grounds and tried to keep going north as we went. Having the lead seemed to give me extra energy and I could almost feel Edward grinning behind me. We were obviously going a whole lot faster than before.

We kept going at a decent pace until the sky above us began to darken and the descending sun thew an orange glow over the forest.

Once the sun disappeared, I turned toward Edward, who was following close behind me. "How long are we going to keep walking?" I asked, dreading the dark forest. As of now it wasn't entirely dark yet, but I guessed it wouldn't be long before it would be.

Edward turned around, seeing for himself that the sun had set. "Yeah, maybe we should start getting ready for the night. It's already pretty late anyway."

I let Edward take the lead for a while as he looked for a decent spot to put up our improvised camp. After a few minutes he seemed happy enough with the little clearing he had found within the dense forest and instantly started tying the ropes of the parachute around a few trees that were surrounding us.

Soon, the white canvas was offering us the shelter we would need for the night. After that Edward picked up some little branches and started working on a fire that would have to keep us warm during the night. Once again I was extremely happy to have Edward with me because I never would have thought about making a fire or bringing a lighter. As I watched him setting fire to the branches, I realized that without him I wouldn't have stood a chance. I slumped down on the ground, exhausted both physically and mentally. I had absolutely no idea how much distance we had covered today and even worse, I didn't know how much we still had left. Suddenly my fear took over and I curled up in a ball, and fought the urge to cry. I couldn't cry—not now. The forest just seemed so daunting now that we were surrounded by darkness. The small fire illuminated only our close surroundings, the rest was just a wall of black. I couldn't see any further than a few feet and even though I had never been a claustrophobic person, I suddenly felt trapped.

"Bella, come sit by the fire, it's safer," Edward said, still working on keeping the fire going. He had already mumbled something about the wood being too wet, but I had no idea what he was talking about. I was grateful that in all his concentration, I don't think he noticed my almost breakdown.

A wave of guilt suddenly crashed over me. Here I was, close to falling apart, while he was so determined to save us. As I hoisted myself up to do as he asked, I promised myself to try harder to stay positive. Wallowing in self-pity wasn't going to save us, so I had to pull myself together and just believe that we would make it out of this alive. That was the only way we might actually make it.

When I took my seat next to the fire, the warmth of it even made me feel better. I watched the little flame getting bigger and bigger as more wood caught onto it. And as the fire became bigger, so did my spirit and will to survive.

Edward finally took a seat next to me, leaning against the same large trunk. He pulled a blanket closer before spraying it with what looked like insect spray before draping it over the both of us with a shy smile. "I only managed to bring one blanket," he admitted sheepishly.

I couldn't help but chuckle lightly at his apologetic look. "Don't worry. I can share," I said, feeling a lot lighter than a few seconds ago.

I don't know if it was the fire or Edward's presence, but I _was _feeling better even though our situation hadn't really changed. We were still trapped somewhere in the Amazon Rain Forest, but now I was going to make sure that we would make it out alive.

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**Thank you for reading!**

**Another chapter next week :) (unless you all hate it ofc...)**

**Love, Ellen**


	9. Chapter 8: Little piece of heaven

**Thank you for all your support so far! It's lovely to see the same people again every week in my reviews :)**

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**Chapter 8: Little piece of heaven**

_Bella_

The next morning I was woken up by a soft voice calling my name, over and over again, in a hushed, yet soothing tone. The way the timbre slowly filtered in made my eyes flutter and slowly open. I could also feel a light stroking on my right, uninjured arm—up and down, up and down. Barely touching but enough to make me all warm and comfortable, like whoever was touching me was trying to reassure me that everything was fine.

The minute my eyes opened completely, I was staring right into two bright green ones, reminding me of the traumatic turn my life had taken. The soft touch on my arm suddenly made a lot more sense. Edward was obviously trying to keep me from falling apart as I was once again realizing our predicament. I closed my eyes again, trying to keep my brain from throwing me back into memories of the past few days.

"I'm sorry I woke you, but I think it's about time to start moving again," he said apologetically.

I opened my eyes cautiously and looked over his shoulder as far as my vision would allow me. The first rays of sunshine were already visible on the horizon, casting a soft orange gleam over the large, ominous trees. Even though I still didn't feel fully rested due to my constant drifting in and out of sleep the entire night, I knew we couldn't afford to stay here any longer. We had to get to the edge of the forest as soon as possible.

So as I was trying to eat some old, hard bread for breakfast, Edward was breaking down our improvised camp as quickly as humanly possible and getting everything ready to hit the road again. I watched his every move as I nibbled on my bread, trying to eat as little as possible but still enough to keep me going.

Even though I had offered to help him, he had forced me to stay seated and save some energy. The weight of our backpacks had already decreased after our three meals yesterday, but I was still by far the weakest one between the two of us.

As I was putting the rest of the bread back in my backpack, I wondered if we shouldn't be more careful with our food. We didn't have that much and there was no guarantee that Edward's estimations were correct. He had only had the plane radars to base his conclusions on, so we could still be days away from our liberation.

Instinctively my mind started going over the past day in the forest, trying to remember if I had seen anything that looked somewhat edible but my mind was blank. However, before I could continue my negative thinking, Edward had everything packed and we were on our feet again, heading north as fast as possible.

It was slightly cooler than yesterday, which also helped. Despite the temperature drop, I was still sweating slightly as we kept going at a rather impressive pace. The fact that I knew we were moving fast though, only kept me motivated and positive. In my mind I was starting to count my steps, trying to focus on something that wouldn't push me into my memories.

The further we got, the higher the sun rose above the treetops, a sign that it was probably close to noon. Just as I was about to push away a mossy branch to allow me to move further, Edward's voice broke the silence.

"Hold still!" he suddenly exclaimed, making me stop abruptly, my hand still on the tree in front of me. I turned around as calmly as possible, wondering what had elicited his words.

He was standing a few feet behind me, his index finger pressed firmly against his lips, asking me silently to keep quiet. He seemed to be trying to hear something in the distance. I could feel my breathing pick up as my mind began racing through all the possibilities of unusual sounds. Could he have heard some kind of animal? Danger? Or was it something positive, like a helicopter?

After a while, I could see a small smile forming on his lips and I couldn't help but release a sigh of relief. He wouldn't be smiling if we were about to be attacked, right?

"I'm not quite sure, but I think I might have a little way to make us feel better," he said reassuringly, as he walked closer to me.

"What is it?" I asked, suddenly excited.

"You'll hear soon enough," he grinned, taking the compass from me and guiding us a little more eastward.

"Shouldn't we be going north?" I asked dumbfounded as I followed him through the dense forest.

"Yeah, but this little detour will be worth it," he explained, the smile on his face never wavering.

I decided to trust him, since I didn't really have any other choice and followed close behind him, my ears perking up in an attempt to hear what he had heard only seconds ago.

Unfortunately, the only sounds I could hear were those of the breaking twigs and branches underneath our feet and other noises the harmless inhabitants of the forest produced. I was growing more and more frustrated by the fact that I had no idea what Edward had heard until a new, rustling sound, reached my ears.

Instinctively I moved faster, until I was close enough to touch Edward's arm holding him back a second. I needed to know that what I was hearing was the same thing he had heard minutes ago. "Is it—" I started and he instantly nodded, a big smile gracing his handsome features. Apparently he was just as excited about our new discovery as I was.

I don't think I've ever walked faster in my entire life than in that very moment, so soon the dense forest opened up to display a little stream of water, bending repeatedly through the trees until it disappeared around one large bend. Even though the water was probably about waist deep in the middle, the stream didn't really look that big because of the trees on each side of the shore bending towards one another.

"Could we follow it the rest of the way?" I asked excitingly unable to tear my eyes away from this little piece of heaven we had just found.

"It seems to be going eastward instead of north," Edward replied sadly. But even though it reigned in my excitement a little, I still couldn't help but thanking whoever is up there for giving us this.

I quickly dropped my bag to the ground and headed toward the shore of the stream. The water looked a little brownish due to the muddy soil, but I still felt like I was about to cry out of happiness. Within seconds I was untying my shoes, pulling off my now dirty socks and ready to let my feet soak in the cool water.

However, just as I was about to lower my right foot in, Edward pulled me back, keeping my toes dangling a few inches from relief. I almost protested but then I saw him pull a transparent cup out in front of me. "Please let me check if it's safe first," he nearly pleaded. I nodded sadly, hoping that he wouldn't find anything dangerous because otherwise I was pretty sure I was going to burst into tears.

I watched closely as he crouched down next to the shore and put the cup deep into the stream. When he pulled it back out, it instantly looked a lot clearer now that there was no mud underneath it. I could barely contain my excitement when Edward seemed to declare it safe enough after inspecting a few more cups. "At least I don't see anything bad at first sight," he said, "but I wouldn't drink it. And if you see any kind of movement, get out as fast as possible, okay?"

As soon as the words had left his mouth, I was ankle deep in the water, moaning at the sensation of finally being able to soak my poor, hurting feet. Edward was chuckling behind me, but he was untying his shoelaces rather fast as well.

I didn't even care that my pants were getting wet as I moved deeper into the water, feeling like I was ready to conquer the world. Soon Edward was next to me, his smile just as wide as mine.

"Do we have some time?" I asked, wanting to get the layer of grime off my body now that we had finally found some water. I could see Edward contemplating it, but after a while, he just shrugged and told me that we might as well take our lunch break a bit earlier and enjoy the fresh water.

I rushed back to the shore, feeling giddier than I had in days. Without really considering that I had some male company, I started pulling off my muddy, sweaty shirt and my jogging pants followed suit. It was only when I was ready to run back into the water in nothing but my non-matching dark blue bra and black panties, that I was aware of Edward staring at me. I felt the blush creep high on my cheeks and my lower lip suddenly found itself wedged in between my teeth. My arms crossed over my chest in an attempt to cover myself a little. "I'm sorry," I drew out and only then did he seemed to realize that he had been staring. He shook his head before turning his eyes away from me, obviously ashamed. The thing that surprised me the most though, was that I hadn't actually minded his eyes on me. Apart from being ashamed when I figured out how reckless I had been, I quickly realized that I had _enjoyed_ the way he had looked at me.

As I tried to suppress a small smile, he walked out of the water, his glance firmly on the ground as he passed me.

I was about to wander back into the stream, when I heard Edward clear his throat behind me in an attempt to capture my attention. I turned around and found him standing awkwardly next to my discarded clothes. "Do you mind if I...errr..." he started, his cheeks flushing slightly as he pulled his hand through his already disarrayed hair. He took another breath before finally uttering his question. "Do you mind if I join you?" I nodded quickly, hoping that if he had his clothes discarded the awkwardness would go away.

But then again, I hadn't prepared myself for an Edward without clothes and soon I was the one gawking at him. Even though his dress shirt had been quite fitting, it had still had the ability to hide part of his well defined torso and muscles. He was truly a sight to behold.

However, when he started unbuttoning his pants, I suddenly felt the need to look away but before I did, I still saw a flash of his dark blue boxer briefs peeking out from his slacks. I couldn't help but chuckle as I realized that even though my underwear wasn't matching, we had managed to match ours anyway.

I was already waist deep in the water when Edward finally stepped in, although the awkwardness still lingered around us. As I started cleaning my grimy body I couldn't help but hope that once we had our clothes back on, we could go back to the simple way we were _before_ we found this little piece of heaven. I couldn't deal with this tension surrounding us on top of everything else that was swirling around in my mind.

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**Thank you for reading :) **

**Next one should be up next week, same time, same place ;) **

**x Ellen**


	10. Chapter 9: Beauty

**Back with another chapter! Thank you for all the reviews so far! You're all lovely! **

**This chapter is for my darling Stine, 'cause it's her birthday today! :D**

**Oh, and this is an Edward point of view ;) Enjoy!**

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**Chapter 9: Beauty**

_Edward_

From the very first moment I saw Bella in daylight, away from the real horrors of our situation, I hadn't been able to see anything but her beauty. And I had never before called a woman beautiful. Pretty, yes, but beautiful, not once. But Bella; she definitely deserved that title. More than deserved it. Her mahogany hair flowed effortlessly around her delicate features and even though she was somewhat small, she still had perfect curves.

Although the circumstances weren't ideal—not at all—I still couldn't stop myself from staring at her at every possible moment. And she wasn't even wearing anything that was usually labeled as sexy. I mean, slightly fancy looking sweatpants and a hoodie had never been pieces of clothing that I would have loved to see on a woman, but Bella managed to make me want to see her in nothing else but that.

But even though she was waking up parts of me that had been dormant for a while, I had managed to subtly keep my distance from her and focus on getting us out of this mess.

Until now at least. Until she had started undressing in front of me, leaving her in nothing but a dark blue bra and tiny black panties.

Before I could completely change my mind and hide somewhere behind a tree, I decided to grow a pair of balls and try to behave like nothing had changed. After asking if Bella would be fine with it, I peeled off my clothes, aside from my blue boxers—which ironically matched her bra—and stepped into the fresh water.

After two days of sweating in the same clothes, this little stream was like heaven on earth. I quickly washed my skin, trying not to focus too much on the beautiful girl who was less than a foot away from me.

The tension that hung around us was palpable, but we both seemed to ignore it pretty well. I continued to scrub my body until I was sure I had pealed of an entire layer of skin in the process. Although I was a bit cleaner, I didn't relish the thought of having to put on dirty clothes.

As I walked out of the water, I could feel her eyes on me, and somehow it made me all warm inside. Like every nerve ending in my body was on fire.

Ignoring the little voice inside my head that was _screaming_ at me to acknowledge these feelings, I picked up both of our clothes from the muddy ground and tossed them into the water. There was no way I was putting those back on before they were at least somewhat clean again.

"Good idea," Bella said as she came closer to help me with the new task. That's all the communication that was exchanged between the two of us as we tried to get the traces of the forest and the crash, out of our clothes before putting them up to dry.

As I looked at the wet clothes that hung over a few branches surrounding us, I realized that we would have to wait until they were dry again before we could continue our journey. Which also meant we would have to stay in our underwear a while longer. I groaned silently, hoping that I wouldn't do anything stupid with Bella walking half naked around me. I was only a man after all.

Bella, on the other hand, seemed a lot more comfortable in her own skin as she started picking out two cans of food from her backpack. After taking a deep breath, I walked closer and took a seat next to her, trying to ignore the beauty that was now within reach. Instead, I tried to focus on the stuff that was supposed to be food. It was horrible. And the hot, damp weather didn't really help either. I had to keep myself from gagging every time I took a bite.

"So..." I started, in an attempt to start a conversation and keep my mind from the nearly inedible food and the still present tension. "Why were you going to Bolivia, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Visiting my mother," she said, around a mouthful of food. I usually detested when people did that, but she somehow made it look cute. _What?_

"She's Bolivian?" I asked, distracting my mind from wandering back to Bella and everything that made her either beautiful, cute or unbelievably sexy.

"Oh no," she laughed, and then swallowed. "She moved there on a whim, to connect to her inner spirit or something like that."

"And your father was okay with that?"

"Well, they're not together anymore so she's free to do as she pleases. Although my dad wasn't really happy to hear I was visiting her." Instantly a wave of unease hit me as I realized that her father was now probably even more unhappy with the fact that she went to visit her mother. Although I was fairly certain that all he cared about right now was getting his baby girl home.

"And your dad lives in New York?" I couldn't stop myself from asking question after question so as she answered every single one of them, I tried to form an image of Bella in her normal environment. Away from all the greens and browns, surrounded by people who loved her.

She started telling me about her father, who didn't live in New York but in a tiny town in Washington called Forks. He had practically raised her as her mother had apparently been doing whatever crazy stuff she wanted. It sure wasn't looking after a child, that much was apparent. So when Bella was ten, her father had decided that Renee—her mother—had to chose between being a mother or being her erratic self. The last choice had obviously been her definite one, but nonetheless Bella didn't hold a grudge toward her. In her opinion Renee wasn't meant to be a mother so it wasn't her fault. Bella had continued to live with her father until she'd gotten a job offer in New York to work at one of the biggest publishing houses in the area. Although she had been reluctant to leave her father to look after himself, she had known that it was a once in a lifetime opportunity. So she moved to New York to establish her career.

"And that's what I've been doing so far. Working, working, and more working," she concluded. "And look where it has brought me." Her hands motioned towards our surroundings, bringing me effectively back to reality. A reality where we were still stuck in a forest with no real vision of being rescued.

For a moment I allowed my mind to conjure up images of meeting Bella in normal conditions—in a bar in New York city or maybe a coffee house to make it even more clichéd. I had no doubt about the fact that I would be blown away by her presence from the very first second. Her true beauty and delicate features would astound me and draw me in. In my mind, I could see myself hesitating to go talk to her, but after a while going for it anyway, hoping not to end up being turned down. Maybe we would have started talking, she about her job as an editor and me about my horrible job as a pilot, which hardly ever allowed me to enjoy home.

Home.

It was a rare concept for me at the moment. I hadn't really been in my hometown since Christmas, and even then it had only been for two days. I missed my family and the few friends I had immensely, but when I was on vacation for a longer period of time I would instantly miss the intense feeling flying gave me. It was truly an addiction.

An addiction I might have just been cured of. As of now, I couldn't see myself stepping onto an airplane anymore ever again. Just the thought of what I had caused was making me nauseous again. I had been suppressing those particular thoughts successfully up until now, feeling it simmer beneath the surface but forcing myself not to let it affect me until we were saved. I knew that if we managed to get out of this jungle, I would have to address it at some point, but right now, I had one passenger I could save. And I would do everything in my power to succeed. Not only because she was the most intriguing, most beautiful and most genuine woman I've ever met, but also because it was my duty—my job.

"So what do we do now?" I asked after a long silence, hoping that starting up a light conversation would make me forget about all of the dark.

"Well, considering that we still have some time until our clothes will be dry, I could put another bandage on that head of yours," she said with a chuckle that sounded slightly forced. I guess talking about home hadn't been a good idea after all.

"Only if you allow me to take another look at your arm," I retorted playfully, hoping to lighten the mood again.

"My arm is just fine," she answered, bending it a few times as to prove me it was healed. Nonetheless I could see the slight grimace that gave away her true pain. "Please just keep it as still as possible until we're back home and you can see a doctor, okay?" I sighed, knowing that she was about a stubborn as a mule when it came to that arm.

"Yes, sir!" she saluted with her other hand before rushing towards my backpack to retrieve the first aid kid.

"Your turn now," she grinned before taking a seat in front of me. Before getting started, she first retrieved everything she would need and put it on her naked thighs. I couldn't tear my eyes away from her movements, or from her for that matter.

When she seemed to have gathered everything, she suddenly leaned closer, to get a better look of the cut on my forehead. The heat of her body and the smell of her skin instantly assaulted my senses. It made my head spin and my heart speed up like I had just run a marathon. She smelled truly divine, like nothing I had ever encountered before. Her cool fingers brushed away the strands of my unruly hair and each time the soft skin of her fingertips touched my forehead, I felt goose bumps erupt all over my body. Before I could grab a hold of her and demand to know who she was and what she was doing to me, she leaned back again, declaring that I was good to go again. I let out a strangled breath I didn't know I was holding, but nonetheless wished she would come back within my reach. I wanted nothing more than to feel her skin against mine again, but somewhere in the back of my mind I knew I had to pull myself together and focus on saving our goddamn lives first.

So instead of acting like a caveman and following my urges, I quickly put my clothes back on and got everything ready to get the hell out of here. I had a job to do after all.

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**Thank you for reading :) **

**Love, Ellen**


	11. Chapter 10: Boy scout

**Chapter 10: Boy scout**

_Bella_

Even though I could have stared at Edward's half naked body for the rest of my life without complaining once, I was also slightly relieved when we were both dressed again and ready to hit the proverbial road. His body was highly distracting and even though I think I had managed not to show it to him, I wanted nothing more than to feel his skin against mine. It had already been quite a challenge to clean his cut, being in such a state of undress. My fingers still tingled from touching him, even if the touches were completely innocent.

So a distraction was more than welcome. And I don't think there is anything which demands more attention than a walk through the dense Amazon forest. Especially for someone like me who was a master at tripping over air. My eyes were permanently fixed on the ground below my feet, while my hands were keeping me from bumping into low hanging branches. Meanwhile, I was keeping my ears perked for anything that would mean we were getting closer to the edge of the forest, but all I could hear were mine and Edward's footsteps and the usual sounds the forest produced. And much to my dissatisfaction, there were a lot of noises today.

The air seemed more humid than yesterday, which lead to more of those creepy, little animals making their presence known. By the time twilight was upon us, I had lost count of how many times I had to slap all kind of bugs from my arms and face. Every time some eerie bug touched down on my skin, I would shriek while a icy shudder ran through my entire body. Whenever that happened, Edward would chuckle under his breath, but every time _he_ got attacked by one of those little annoying things, his shrieks weren't very manly either. I was still laughing at one of his latest curses when all of the sudden I felt a sharp pain somewhere on the middle of my calf. I cried out as I collapsed onto the ground, my hands clamped down on my leg. As I wanted to examine whatever was wrong, I saw a little black spider scurry away from my shoe in between the leaves that were scattered all over the place.

"Bella!" Edward voice roared through the forest as he must have seen me tumbling to the ground. In an instant he was at my side, kneeling down next to me. "What is it?" he asked frantically, his hands hovering over my body as he obviously didn't know what had happened yet.

"A sp-spider just bit me," I choked out through my tears as I pointed towards a pile of dead leaves in which the devil itself had hidden.

"Where?" he asked, his eyes roaming my body. I waved my hand towards my calf where the pain was almost unbearable.

"Edward, it hurts so badly," I cried, holding my leg close to my body as if the pain would magically disappear if I clutched it tight enough.

"Let me see," he said, pulling my leg out of my grip and closer toward him. He examined the little red spot briefly before looking up at me again. His eyes were dark, emotionless as he asked me once again if I was sure it had been a spider. I nodded, tears streaming down my face as the pain intensified every second. He nodded in reply before taking a deep breath and leaning closer toward the red spot on my calf.

"Edward, what the hell are you doing?" I yelled, my teeth clenched together as I pulled my leg away from his hands.

"Shut up and let me take care of this," he said, his voice firm, leaving no room for an argument. He instantly leaned closer again and put his mouth over the spot where the spider had sunk its ugly teeth in my flesh. Before I could utter another word and demand what he was doing, Edward was sucking that one spot on my leg, making a tingly feeling spread all over my body. It was as if I could feel all the blood that was running through my veins flow towards that one place he had his mouth on. He spat out a little blood every few seconds before continuing his task.

Once he seemed happy with the result, he leaned back against the tree and grabbed a bottle of water.

"There you go, I think I've got all the venom out of it, if there was any in it at all," he said emotionlessly after rinsing his mouth with a minimum of water.

I stared at him in disbelief as he seemed to be really interested in the little branches surrounded him. "How do you know all this?" I asked, tears still in my eyes. There was just a throbbing feeling left, but aside from that the pain was slowly ebbing away.

"Boy scout," he grinned. I chuckled a little under my breath. Edward had been a boy scout? That explained why he knew so many basic survival tips and tricks. At that moment, I solemnly swore I was never ever going to make fun of the boy scouts again.

Without saying another word, Edward pulled the first aid kit out of his backpack and put a little bandage on the bite. When he seemed pleased with the result, he looked up for this first time, his face still blank.

"Does it still hurt?" he asked, the palm of his hand still on my leg, on top of the bandage.

"No, it's better. Thank you," I said genuinely.

"You're welcome," he replied, his features relaxing slightly.

"Do you think you can walk?" he asked, after allowing me a few minutes to come to my senses with what had happened. So far we had had nothing majorly dangerous happen, but after this little thingy, I could feel myself growing anxious again. After all, who knows what was lurking around every tree. An involuntary shudder ran through my body as I imagined far more dangerous animals attacking us.

"I think I can," I answered Edward, hoping that I was able to move my feet so I could get the out of this looming forest.

With the help of Edward's outstretched hand, I was able to pull myself up from the ground without too much effort, but once I was on my own and I had to put weight on my leg, I could feel a light sting in my calm again.

"Are you okay?" Edward asked, noticing my grimace.

"Yeah, it still stings a little, but nothing too bad," I said, as I tentatively tried to move forward. Once again, it stung a little, but it was bearable.

Slower than before, we started walking again, dodging trees and dense parts of the forest while trying to keep going north in the best way possible.

As the night fell and we had to set up camp again, I couldn't help but wonder how many times we would have to go through all this setting up and packing again. Every hour that we didn't see anything that indicated that civilization was nearby made me lose more and more hope. And the fact that we hadn't even heard any helicopters flying over the forest made me even more anxious.

"You should eat something," Edward suggested, as he obviously watched me stare out in front of me, through the thick patches of green that we still had to get through.

"I'm not hungry," I said meekly. My stomach had been in knots ever since I had seen darkness fall upon us once again.

"Bella, you need to keep your strength up," he pressured. I sighed before putting some food into my mouth, not tasting anything, just swallowing in the hope that it wouldn't come up again. I kept taking little bites, feeling my stomach protesting at the horrible food, but I couldn't just shove it aside since I could feel Edward watching my every move. And he was right, I had to eat something if I didn't want to collapse from the lack of energy. Nonetheless I could see that he had to force himself to swallow the food as well. Yeah, we were quite a pair.

Just as the darkness had completely enveloped us, I could feel a drop of water hit my arm. And then another one. And another one.

Shit.

I turned towards Edward in panic, seeing him look up towards the sky as well, obviously having noticed the same. "What do we do now?" I asked, my voice betraying my sudden panic. We weren't exactly equipped for a downpour.

"I don't think it's going to get that bad," Edward said, trying to calm me a bit, "It's not the season for torrential rain, if I recall correctly." I nodded slowly, indicating that I had heard him, but unable to keep myself from staring up at the thick canopy of leaves above us.

"Anyway, we should probably try to catch some sleep now and hope the rain will end soon, so we can get going again at dawn," he added as he took a seat under the parachute he had once transformed into something that could easily pass as a tent. As the rain got slightly heavier, I quickly ducked underneath the canvas and curled up in a little ball. The temperature was decreasing quickly now that the sky was emptying its contents, and my thin hoodie didn't seem enough to keep myself warm.

"You're cold," Edward stated, his eyes never leaving my slightly trembling body. He was sitting a few feet away from me, obviously not even a bit cold.

"I'm fine," I replied automatically, feeling another shudder run through my body. "If you don't mind, you can come closer, you know," he said, a slight smile playing on his lips.

"I don't want to make you uncomfortable," I answered politely, wanting nothing more than to rush closer to him and cuddle up against him.

"Oh please," he chuckled while making a show of rolling his eyes at me, "Will you get your ass over here already?." His outstretched arm was much too inviting to deny, so sheepishly I scooted closer to him, feeling a lot better as I got closer to the warmth of his body. "Better?" he asked, a tone of amusement in his voice. I nodded against his chest before falling into a restless slumber that would keep me on an edge for the rest of the night.

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**Thank you for reading (and reviewing ;D) **

**Love, Ellen**


	12. Chapter 11: Mud

**Chapter 11: Mud**

The next two days passed just as the previous two had; slowly and energy-consuming. The only thing that had changed was that with each step I took, I had less and less hope in surviving this trip through hell. Especially because the ground had turned into a some sort of mud pool, slowing us down immensely.

Although we hadn't had a downpour that particular night, the skies had still released quite a lot of rain over the past few days, making the earth beneath our feet all slushy and the entire forest moist. We were constantly soaked as we tried to make our way through the greenery surrounding us. Thank God the temperatures had been decent during the day or else I would have already caught a cold for sure.

But even though our trip was full of misery lately, I still had a feeling I had grown a lot closer to Edward since the rain had started falling down on us. We hadn't exactly talked a lot lately—as we were focused on saving as much energy as possible—but I couldn't quite shake off the warm feeling he gave me just by being around me, especially after we had spend the first rainy night cuddled up. I smiled at the thought of how he had grown so protective of me in such a short period of time. He was always watching out for me, and once again, I found myself wondering what I would have done without him. Not much, probably.

Nonetheless, even with Edward around, I was starting to doubt my chances of getting out of this alive as the hours dragged on. According to his calculations four days ago, we should be close to the edge now, but the forest seemed way too dense to be near any civilization. There was nothing more frustrating than not knowing how far we still had to go. The doubt and uncertainty was killing me.

On top of it all, I was feeling more and more tired each hour, like my body was entirely drained of all energy, no matter how much I ate or slept. I would wake up with a headache, feeling as tired as I had been when I went to sleep. We had also had to take a lot more breaks than the first two days, which made me feel even more frustrated. It was a never ending circle and I found myself getting trapped in it.

I could feel Edward's worried stare on me every time I had to hold on to a tree to support myself, and as I was clinging to a low branch right now, I could once again feel his helplessness.

"Bella, you should take another break," he said, worry laced through his words.

"I'm fine," I protested, letting go of the tree and forcing myself to take another few steps. Edward was instantly at my side though, blocking my path and ordering me to take a seat. "We've already taken so many breaks today," I said, my voice trembling. I knew what another break meant. It was another few minutes that were lost, and somehow I felt like those minutes would matter.

"We can take as many as you want," Edward replied, crouching down in front of me after I had finally allowed myself to sit down. His cool hand touched my forehead and I instantly recognized the worry in his eyes. It was the same look he had given me when that annoying spider had bitten me. I looked him straight in the eyes, wordlessly asking him a question I already knew the answer to. His hand had felt way too cold against my heated skin.

"You have a slight fever," he confirmed, already rummaging through the first aid kid. He handed me a small white pill before ordering me to take it. "It should help the fever go down," he said when he noticed I wasn't very happy about the medicine. "Please, just take it," he pleaded once more. I figured that it probably wouldn't make me feel any worse, and it seemed to make Edward feel better, so I took it, hoping that it would make sure the fever never really broke through. The last thing I needed right now was a fever that would make it impossible for me to move. Like we weren't going through enough trouble already.

Luckily our backpacks were getting lighter now, but that was also a reminder that our supplies weren't going to last much longer. We really had to find our way out of here soon, or things wouldn't end well. I still had to fight myself not to think those thoughts, but with every second that passed it was harder. It was so easy to start thinking the worst when you can see nothing good on the horizon.

After Edward had put the first aid kid back in his backpack—which contained about all of which we still had left—he took a seat next to me and offered me some more water. "We still have plenty," he said as he noticed I was going to protest. I contemplated it for a moment, but ultimately decided to take a small sip. I was parched, even though everything around us was wet. I really felt like we had landed straight in hell. I could feel the tears pricking my eyes again as a feeling of helplessness washed over me. I was fighting it with all I could, but I was so close to falling apart. A small sob escaped me and instantly Edward pulled me closer to him, wrapping me up in his strong body. "We'll be fine," he repeated for the umpteenth time the past few days. "We can't give up now, Bella. I _will _get you out of here."

Although my brain registered his words, I was having a hard time really believing them. I didn't want to be a naïve little girl who ended up being trapped in something that was nothing but a dream. I wanted to be prepared for when everything came crashing down for real. And it seemed to me that that would be all too soon.

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**A/N: It was a short one, sorry. But I'm having some problems with my twitter account, and even after multiple mails to twitter support, they still haven't helped me. So at the moment I'll be tweeting updates from .SilsKristen instead of .HolyKristen :) **

**Next week another update though, promise!**

**Thank you for reading (& reviewing?)**

**x Ellen**


	13. Chapter 12: The beginning of the end

**Sunday evening = update evening, so here I am with another chapter :) **

**And now: dun dun duuuuuuuuun**

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**Chapter 12: The beginning of the end**

_Bella_

After my minor breakdown which had led to yet another unplanned break, during which we once again lost much valuable time, we finally managed to continue our trip through hell again, although it was at a snail's pace. My limbs were aching with every move and sometimes I felt like everything around me was spinning. On top of that, I was pretty sure that I was seeing things that weren't real. Too many colors and all kinds of weird shapes. It was obvious that I was completely and totally exhausted, but there was no way I could allow myself to sleep for a long period of time. First of all, it would make us lose too much time, and secondly, it wasn't safe enough now that the forest was livening up again due to the warm, moist weather. There were all kinds of spiders, beetles and other annoying, poisonous animals lurking behind every patch of green, so we had to be attentive to our surroundings every second. I had already been bitten once and I didn't relish the thought of it happening again. Ever since that stupid bite, things had gone downhill.

We had even started a routine overnight where one would keep an eye on everything that was going on around us, while the other would be allowed to try and catch some much needed rest. It was obvious that the time I was granted some sleep, it was usually longer than the time Edward would get. But every time I tried to protest, he would point out that I was ready to collapse while he was just merely tired. Ultimately, I gave in because I knew that my exhaustion was slowing us down, hence effecting him as well. Not that I found myself actually _able_ to sleep. My mind swirling around the fact that we were still trapped in a daunting forest, with absolutely no assurance of being rescued anytime in the near future, looming over our heads like Damocles' sword.

As of now, we were on the road again, after Edward had given both of us a little pep talk about trying to keep a positive mindset. It seemed easier for him than for me. He wasn't exhausted to the bone, either.

Because I had lost all strength to push away the bigger branches that blocked our path, Edward had taken the lead again. He would get the boughs of the trees out of the way and then let me pass. I knew that this was once again holding the both of us up and it was killing me to know that I might be the reason Edward would be trapped,too. He was in a lot better shape and if he didn't have to take care of me, I knew he'd be a lot further. Maybe he would have been saved already. I had contemplated telling him not to bother with me and to just save himself. I had no doubt that he would succeed, and maybe, if I was lucky, he would help the rescuers find a way to get back to me. In my mind, the whole scenario was set, but I hadn't even tried to broach the subject to Edward. I'm pretty sure he would protest about leaving me behind, but right now, I didn't really see myself finding the edge of the forest we were so desperately looking for. Even my dreams—or should I say nightmares—included images of my lonely, dead body in the forest. It was a daunting image and it made it hard to get myself motivated to keep going. I had half a mind to try and talk to Edward about him moving forward without me, as I was once again trailing a few feet behind him. The muddy soil was swallowing up half of my feet every time I took a step, and it took all of my strength to be able to pull it out of the mud again to move forward. Edward seemed to be having the same problem, although he managed to pull his feet out a lot faster than I was.

On top of it all, our food supply was dwindling faster than we had originally thought and we still hadn't seen any sign that we were approaching the edge. We were already eating a lot less which, of course, led to me and possibly Edward having a lot less energy. The hopes of getting out of the forest that I had had when we set out were long gone. I was pessimistic, and my little jar of hope was emptying faster with every second.

Even though Edward would try to make it look like everything was okay, I could see him getting anxious. And worst of all, it was obvious that he was starting to doubt himself. Ever so often, I would see him stare at the compass, knowing that he was wondering whether or not north had been the right way to go. If I wasn't already losing my mind, I'm pretty sure that would be the figurative last straw.

As I took the next step, my mind started swirling again, replaying the last few days like a screenplay in my head. All hope left me as I once again realized our predicament and without being able to do anything about it, I collapsed onto the muddy floor.

The sound of footsteps in front of me halted immediately, and I could feel Edward's worried stare travel all over my body. I could hear him turn around and crouch in front of me, his hand quickly helping me upright again.

"We'll be fine," he whispered for what seemed like the millionth time, but his once comforting words didn't have the same effect anymore. They sounded like an empty promise, a reason to keep afloat while I was sure I was going to drown. I felt empty, tired and spent. I felt dead. "We can't give up now, Bella," his soft voice pleaded, once more, but it was all in vain. I had already given up.

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**A/N: Yes, as you've probably noticed; we've caught up with the prologue!**

**Next chapter will be another Edward point of view ;) **

**Please leave me your thoughts in a review! It's highly appreciated :D **

**See you next week! **

**Love, Ellen**


	14. Chapter 13: Desperation

******A/N: Don't worry peeps, I'm not gone! I just couldn't post an update last wee,k because my lovely beta had some family issues. Family always comes first, so therefore, this one here is one week later than planned. I'm sorry! **

**But anyway, it's an Edward point of view, and I hope you'll enjoy it :) **

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**Chapter 13: Desperation**

_Edward_

I had seen her struggling for the past few hours, forcing herself to stay upright with every step, but hearing Bella's body collapse onto the ground like she was nothing more than a lifeless rag doll was something I wasn't prepared for, at all.

Within seconds, I was at her side, trying to get her up again while repeating over and over again that we would be fine and that we couldn't give up now, that we were almost at the end of our struggle. It was the mantra I had been repeating constantly, not only to her, but also in my own mind. I knew we had to be close to the edge—we had to be. I couldn't have been that wrong about our whereabouts, could I?

But all my attempts to convince her were fruitless. I couldn't make her get up, I couldn't even get her to move. Silent tears were streaming down her face, mingling with the mud that was simply everywhere. It was a heartbreaking sight.

"God, Bella! Please, just get up, _please!_" I pleaded, feeling myself choke up. For the first time in a very long time I felt like crying. I wanted to scream and let all my frustrations out. Just for one minute.

But I couldn't. I couldn't appear weak now. I had to stay strong for Bella so I could get both of us out of this horrible situation.

"I can't," she whispered. "Everything hurts." Her voice was so frail, nothing like the beautiful, satin voice I'd become so familiar with over the past few days. I would have done anything in that moment to hear her normal cheerful voice again, or her laughter, but it was obvious that she had given up.

I put my arms under her frail-looking body, trying to get her out of the mud and onto a dry patch of grass and moss. She didn't struggle against my attempt to lift her and was completely limp in my arms. It made the ache inside of me even worse.

Although I hadn't held her before, I could easily tell by lifting her that she had lost a lot of weight the past few days. The lack of decent food and the strains of our continuous walking had taken its toll on her. Her sweatpants and shirt were big enough on her not to see the difference if you weren't really observant. But as I carried her, it was obvious that she was underweight now.

I took a seat against the trunk of one of the bigger trees surrounding us, holding her close to my chest as I kept repeating that we were so close and that she couldn't give up. Although it was probably all in vain and she had quite possibly reached her limit, I knew there was no going back.

I should have known this was going to happen soon, with how weak she had been the last few hours, or maybe even the past few days. I could see the pain in her eyes and the effort it took to keep going, but I had never been really worried about her until this morning. I could clearly hear her puke up whatever she had had for breakfast when she had excused herself for a minute. She hadn't been eating a lot lately and I was fairly certain she hadn't been sleeping either. It wasn't at all surprising that she had collapsed. Even I was feeling the effects of the lack of sleep and nutrition.

"Edward," she croaked, instantly pulling my mind from analyzing the last two days. I wiped away the bit of mud that had stuck to her face and put her long, but now dirty hair, out of her face while giving her my full attention. Even like this, she was still so beautiful.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, silent tears still falling down her face.

"It's not your fault, Sweetheart," I soothed, still stroking her cheek even though the dirt was all gone.

"If...wasn't so weak…we'd be further already," she said, her voice indicating just how weak she felt.

"Don't say that, Bella," I chastised. "You can't think like that!"

"But it's…true."

"It doesn't matter. We're in this together and we'll get out of this together!" I told her, hoping with my whole heart that I could convince her that not all hope was lost.

"I…can't go on…anymore," she whispered, her eyes failing to meet mine.

"You just need some rest, it's okay. Go to sleep and when you feel better, we can start walking again," I said, rearranging her in my arms so she would be comfortable enough to catch some sleep. But instead of trying to fall asleep, she looked at me, her eyes full of pain and defeat.

"It's useless. You should…just…go on without me," she said, seemingly needing all of her energy just to utter those few words. But even though they were just whispered, they hit me hard. As if she had slapped me in the face.

"What the fuck, Bella? No! _No!_ I'm not going anywhere without you," I growled. I couldn't even consider leaving her behind. The thought alone made my stomach churn. I'd much rather die right next to her, than leave her alone in this.

"You should…save…yourself," she uttered, a second before her eyes closed again.

"NO!" I yelled, shaking her limp body, willing her to wake up, but all was in vain. She didn't respond to anything I said or did. I frantically moved my first and middle finger over her throat, desperate to find a heartbeat to indicate that I hadn't just lost her. I sighed in relief when I found her pulse. It was very weak, but at least it was there. She was still alive.

For now.

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**A/N: I'm sorry? **

**Thank you for reading (and reviewing!) **

**Lots of love, Ellen**


	15. Chapter 14: Roar

**Back with the next chapter :D **

**+ I'll try to stick to the updating shedule, but since I've got myself a job last week, I might have a few difficulties updating. I promise I'll do whatever I can to finish this story the way I wanted to finish it. Pinky swear! If not, you'll get a shortened version :D But I will finish it one way or another! :D **

**Until then; here you have chapter 14! **

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**Chapter 14:Roar**

_Edward _

As I held Bella's limp body in my arms, I tried frantically to remember CPR and all the first aid rules I'd learned during my pilot training, but my mind came up blank. I was panicking and that realization didn't help either. My heart was beating wildly in my chest and my breathing couldn't be controlled either. It felt as if I was drowning, but without the water.

I was losing her.

I was losing the last passenger I could still save.

As that last thought settles, I suddenly felt the adrenaline take over. I could feel it surge through my veins, giving me the strength not to give up just because she seemed to have. I _was_ going to save her even if it was the last thing I was going to do. If I couldn't get her on her feet and healthy again, I would find someone who could. I wasn't going to lose her. Not now, not ever.

Determined to keep moving despite Bella's state, I quickly went through her backpack to fish out everything that was still useful, but didn't weigh too much and put it in mine after tossing a few things out. As I strapped the, now lighter, backpack back onto my back, I felt ready to conquer the world. Even though the forest in front of me still looked as impenetrable as when we first started our journey, I swore to myself I would get us both out of here—before Bella's heart stopped beating.

After one more glance at the compass to make sure I was still going in the right direction, I pulled Bella in my arms again, whispering those words once more, hoping that even in her unconscious state, she would hear them. "I'm not giving up. I'm going to save us, I promise."

And with that promise lingering between us, I started walking again with Bella held close to my body to prevent her from hitting the loose branches that were sticking out from every possible direction. It was challenging to move through a dense forest without having your arms available, but I managed to set a decent pace. My feet and every other part of my body burned from the continuous strain, but I was walking on adrenaline. I didn't feel the pain anymore; there was only the urge to keep moving, as fast as possible.

Luckily, the peak heat of the day was already past me, so that was at least one thing I didn't need to worry about. Nonetheless, I still had plenty to keep my mind busy. Bella being unconscious in my arms as I moved through the dense Amazon Forest being one of them. I don't know how long her heart would keep beating, but it scared me shitless that one second she could be gone. It could be over as fast as snapping your fingers.

I once again sped up, terrified that I would end up being too late to save her, but in all my haste, I wasn't really paying attention to the ground beneath my feet anymore. Unfortunately, I stumbled over a particular large root that was partially hidden by the greenery around it. I lost my balance and with my hands unavailable to keep me up, I saw the ground coming closer. In a flash, I was turning my body around, angling my back towards the ground, so Bella would just fall on top of me instead of being crushed by my weight.

With a thud, I fell onto the muddy ground, crying out when my back met another root of the same three I now hated. I clenched my teeth shut, willing the pain to go away. It wasn't that bad, but it was throbbing and I was sure it would leave a nasty bruise.

Frustrated that nothing seemed to be going right, I slammed my hand onto the muddy ground as a scream erupted from deep within me. Profanities slipped from my mouth, filling the otherwise peaceful scenery of this wet, but living forest, with their echoes.

All the while, Bella remained lifeless, her body on top of mine but her heart still beating.

I wanted nothing more than to lie down for a while and let the pain fade away, but I had to get up again. I needed to get out of here and find someone who could help Bella. Time had never been such a looming thing to me as it has been the past few days, and especially the past few minutes. Every tick of the clock could be our last, and even though I didn't want to dwell on it too much, it scared me unfathomably.

I slowly brushed away the hair that was hanging in front of Bella's eyes so I could see her entire face. My heart ached at how serene she looked at that very moment, but somehow it comforted me as well. I liked to believe that she wasn't in any pain, but of course, I couldn't know for sure.

"I promise, Bella, I promise," I repeated once more before pressing a light kiss onto her forehead, unable to stop myself.

So once again, I got up, pulled Bella's body closer and forced myself to keep going, despite my muscles' every protest.

Exhaustion kicked in only a few minutes later and for the first time, I really started doubting whether there was salvation close by. The radars could have been messed up—just like the entire situation—leaving us in the middle of the forest instead of on the edge.

Right as panic was about to settle in, I heard a loud roar resonate throughout the entire forest, making my entire body freeze in both fear and shock. I was instantly alert, desperately trying to find the source of this unusual noise for a forest. It didn't sound like an animal noise, but I couldn't quite identify it. On top of that, it seemed to come from everywhere. My eyes scanned the surroundings, hoping to find the source of the ruckus. Just as I was about to cry out in frustration, I could hear another crackling sound on top of the other noise. A second later, I felt the entire ground shake lightly.

I closed my eyes, willing myself to hear which direction would be the right one to take to find these noises. My heart was pounding loudly in my chest, indicating my slight angst of what I was going to encounter, but at the same time I was exhilarated about this change in events.

I started walking a little more eastward than I was previously, hoping and praying that it would be the right way to go. Thankfully, it seemed that I had guessed correctly. The volume of the sounds only intensified as I kept walking and soon I was able to recognize the sound of a loud machine engine.

"Holy shit," I mumbled to myself as I realized what this meant. Machines. There were machines nearby. And where machines were, there were people. And where people were, there would be help.

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**A/N: Yay! :D Thank you for reading (and reviewing!) :D**

**Until next time, **

**Love, Ellen**


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